Planning the national move
The business plan documented the decision to close the local group and redirect the work towards a national network.
Sensory Project · Communities of Practice
Twenty years of connecting people, learning and practice
Our Communities of Practice have grown through listening, co-production and the belief that learning becomes meaningful when people have somewhere to keep asking questions, share experience and translate sensory theory into real life.
Celebrating 2006–2026
The roots of the community
From a local group to a national network
The story did not begin with a membership platform. It began with people recognising that sensory integration practice needed connection, shared learning and a stronger professional network.
The 2005 development plan records a deliberate transition: the local group was brought to a close so that the work could move into a national network. That national network launched in 2006. In 2026, we are celebrating twenty years since that national beginning.
The archive helps us tell this accurately. The local group did not simply
disappear. It was stopped because the ambition had widened: to establish
a national network able to connect people beyond one locality.
The national network launched
A wider professional network created new opportunities for connection, knowledge exchange and shared sensory practice.
Communities deliberately developed
ASI Wise and Sensory Project began deliberately building a Community of Practice model around learning, translation and ongoing support.
Coffee & Chat sustained connection
Weekly online Coffee & Chat and real-time peer networks helped people remain connected when face-to-face learning and practice were disrupted.
Community for Life
The Rio poster made the layered support model visible, including Coffee & Chat, peer networks, tutoring, mentoring and focused groups.
No One Left Behind
The Porto work examined the development, experience and early implementation of an ASI Community of Practice across services.
Shared and examined internationally
From Rio to Porto
The Communities of Practice have been presented through our international conference posters as an evolving practice model, not simply as a list of member benefits. The work traces a continuing commitment to supported learning, belonging and sustainable translation into practice.
Community for Life · Community of Practice · No one left behind
The Rio poster brought together the support developed around learners and practitioners, including the growth of Coffee & Chat and online connection during COVID.
No One Left Behind · Developing an ASI Community of Practice
The Porto poster continued the story, exploring how supported communities can strengthen capability, access, belonging, collective learning and sustainable adoption.
Co-produced capability development
Supported and developmentally safe practice
Connection, access and belonging
Rapid learning cycles into practice
Collective leadership for sustainable adoption
What a Community of Practice offers
More than a meeting
A Community of Practice is a social learning space. It allows experience, uncertainty, new research and clinical reasoning to be brought into conversation. People can ask, contribute, notice patterns, challenge assumptions and keep the person’s dignity, sensory experience and meaningful participation at the centre.
These communities complement formal supervision, organisational governance and specialist assessment. They do not replace them.
Wider community
Coffee & Chat
Coffee & Chat remains part of our Communities of Practice, but it is not a Special Interest Group. It is the wider community doorway: a welcoming place to connect, hear what is happening, bring questions and remain part of the Sensory Project conversation.
Connection through COVID and beyond
Coffee & Chat became an important weekly online gathering when COVID disrupted face-to-face contact. It created continuity, helped people share questions and experience, and supported the translation of learning beyond the screen.
It continues as our broad member Community of Practice, sitting alongside the focused Special Interest Groups below.
Planned future community
Parenting Through the Senses
Parenting Through the Senses will sit within this wider Community of Practice area when it is ready, separate from the professional Special Interest Groups.
Focused Communities of Practice
Special Interest Groups
These focused groups bring members together around a shared area of practice or interest. Some are already open. CAMHS, Older Adults and Neuro Rehab are being developed and are shown as coming soon.
Special Interest Group
Forensic, Prisons & Secure Services
Sensory informed practice across forensic, prison and secure services, with dignity and participation at the centre.
Explore this group →
Special Interest Group
Private Practice
Connection and reflection for people working independently or developing private sensory informed services.
Explore this group →
Special Interest Group
Learning Disabilities
Sensory informed support across health, social care, education, community and residential settings.
Explore this group →
Special Interest Group
Mental Health
Embodied, sensory rooted and participation focused practice across adult mental health services.
Explore this group →
Special Interest Group
Perinatal
Sensory experience, early relationships, infant regulation and participation across the perinatal period.
Explore this group →
Special Interest Group
Schools
Connecting sensory science with learning, relationships, environments and participation in school life.
Explore this group →
Special Interest Group
ARFID & Eating Differences
Sensory experience, interoception, relationships and participation around food and eating.
Explore this group →
CAMHS
Special Interest Group
CAMHS
A developing community for sensory informed child and adolescent mental health practice.
Learn about the planned group →
Older Adults
Special Interest Group
Older Adults
A developing community around ageing, neurological change, environments, relationships and participation.
Learn about the planned group →
Neuro Rehab
Special Interest Group
Neuro Rehab
A developing community for sensory informed neurological rehabilitation and participation.
Learn about the planned group →
Membership access
Membership first, then choose your communities
Membership comes after understanding what the communities are for. The group products in the shop are not standalone public purchases. They are member-only items used to add a Community of Practice or Special Interest Group to an active, eligible membership.
If you are not already an eligible member, the shop will not
allow you to add a group.
Start with the Sensory Project membership offer, then choose the
communities that fit your interests and practice.
Access follows active membership. If membership lapses, access to
protected membership spaces ends. Renewing an eligible membership
restores access in line with the membership rules.
1
Choose membership
Join through the Sensory Project membership offer and choose an eligible membership level.
2
Add your community
Once membership is active, use the member-only shop item to add the community to your account.
3
Open your dashboard
Already a member? Add the group to your account, then open your dashboard to access the protected group space.
4
Keep access active
Protected community access continues while the relevant membership remains active.