Will smashing plates and TVs at Saint John's first 'rage room' help your mental health?

Destroying a computer with a blunt object is a lot of work. 

The aluminum bat connects with the steel case with a soft, metallic crunch. The first swing barely dents the tower. It takes a good half-dozen more hard strikes to pop the side panel off, sending the fan, power cables, and plastic bits spinning out onto the floor. 

For many people, it might feel odd — even slightly wrong — to unleash their inner Hulk on defenceless office gear.

But Julie Hebert, who just opened Broken Pieces Rage Room on Rothesay Avenue in Saint John, says smashing small appliances, glassware, and personal belongings helps some people deal with stress.

Hebert bases her view on her own experience with trauma. She worked in mental health and addictions until 2013, when a workplace assault caused her mental health to spiral.

"I was very angry," she said. "I couldn't believe that it would actually happen to me."

It took years of medication, counselling and electroconvulsive therapy in hospital, but she says she's now in a better place. She wants to provide an outlet for other people struggling with anger and grief.

Hebert struck on the idea of a rage room — a worldwide phenomenon that exists from Japan and Serbia to Toronto and Texas — when she came across a TikTok of people smashing things "after having a really bad day."

"I was let go from my job the year before, and my best friend was diagnosed with Stage 4 lymphoma," she said. She thought, "'You know what? Why can't we do this? Why can't we bring this to Saint John?'"

That "a-ha" moment led to the creation of Broken Pieces, a Rothesay Avenue warehouse space divided into four small rooms filled with donated, smashable goods from china plates and popcorn machines, to coffee makers and printers.

Hebert's "Break up/Divorce Rage" package includes more than 30 objects, plus a box of approved stuff brought in by the guest. The "Office Party" package includes 20 small items, a computer, printer, and bonus windshield.

In addition to head-to-toe safety gear, guests can access an arsenal of "weapons" — a crowbar, golf club, baseball bat, and sledgehammer — and a speaker for those who like their rage with musical accompaniment.

After wreaking havoc for 15 to 30 minutes, guests leave the mess behind to be sorted for recycling. Hopefully, Hebert said, they leave behind whatever's bothering them. 

Drugs, alcohol, and hitting the walls or doors with weapons à la Jack Nicholson in The Shining are prohibited, as are children under 10.