ASI Wise & The Sensory Project · For managers
Build the sensory capability your service needs.
A connected workforce development offer for NHS and UK services—from universal awareness and practical team learning to specialist Ayres’ Sensory Integration® education, postgraduate progression and support for implementation.
Not everyone needs the same learning. Build a proportionate pathway around roles, service need, supervision, governance and the change you want to make.
Why we developed it
A workforce pathway—not simply a list of courses.
More than 25 years of work within and alongside NHS services has shown us that a one-off course rarely changes practice on its own.
Staff need a shared foundation, learning that matches their role, time to apply it, and support that continues after formal teaching. Managers need a way to invest in stages, follow progress and connect learning to real service priorities.
A layered workforce model
One service can need all four levels.
This is not a staircase everyone must climb. People can enter at the level that fits their role, stop when they have what they need, or progress as responsibilities and service needs develop.
For the wider workforce
Universal sensory awareness
A shared language for noticing how sensory experiences may influence comfort, communication, distress and participation.
- Sensory Awareness organisational offer
- One-hour Sensory “Espresso” Shots
- Free Sensory Ladders® learning
Boundary: awareness supports thoughtful adjustments within an existing role; it is not specialist assessment or intervention training.
For teams developing everyday practice
Enhanced sensory choices
Practical learning about environments, activities, relationships and individual sensory patterns.
Boundary: practical team learning does not replace occupational therapy assessment or specialist sensory integration assessment where required.
For targeted professional support
Sensory lens, coaching and consultation
More individualised formulation, coaching, consultation and reflective support around participation.
Boundary: consultation remains within professional competence, local governance and the limits of available evidence.
For eligible OT, PT and SLT professionals
Specialist ASI practice
Structured education in ASI theory, assessment, data-driven clinical reasoning, intervention, outcomes and fidelity.
- ASI Wise Certificate ASI1–ASI3 with CLASI learning
- Ulster University PGCert, PGDip and MSc progression
- International recognition of prior learning
Boundary: a qualification supports capability and portfolio evidence; it does not itself confer an Enhanced or Advanced Practitioner job title.
Manager signposting
Start with the change you need.
A proportionate plan usually combines a broad foundation with more focused investment for selected roles.
Create a shared sensory language
Use Sensory Awareness across the workforce, including new starters, then offer free Sensory Ladders® as a practical next step.
Explore organisational Sensory Awareness →Improve everyday support
Choose role-relevant workshops and team reflection to develop more responsive choices around people, activities and environments.
Browse practical workshops →Build specialist capability
Start with the practice-focused ASI Wise Certificate and retain an affordable route into later postgraduate credit.
Explore the Certificate route →Support postgraduate progression
Add academic assessment, research learning and dissertation work as staff experience, responsibilities and service plans develop.
Explore PGCert, PGDip and MSc →Interactive manager decision tree
Plan different learning for different staff groups.
Add one person or cohort at a time. The planner will suggest a proportionate starting point for each group and create one summary you can copy or download.
One service may need several routes at once.
For example, the wider workforce may begin with universal awareness while selected teams develop practical skills and a smaller number of eligible therapists progress towards specialist or postgraduate learning.
The result is a planning prompt, not an admissions decision, competency award or recommendation about an individual person.
Draft planning summary
A copy you can review and send to us.
Check the wording, add any local context, then copy it into an email or our enquiry form.
More than course access
Implementation, oversight and progression.
We can help managers turn separate learning opportunities into one coherent workforce plan.
- Stage investment. Begin with affordable universal learning and add workshops or modules when need is clear.
- Track reach and completion. Manager access can support allocation, progress review and the inclusion of new starters.
- Protect specialist capacity. Select eligible therapists for formal modules while keeping universal learning proportionate.
- Connect learning to implementation. Use manager conversations, tutor groups, mentoring and Communities of Practice.
- Keep progression visible. Certificate learning can stand alone or support later postgraduate progression under current entry and credit arrangements.
Professional transparency
Learning supports a portfolio. The role determines practice status.
Our modules align learning and evidence with clinical practice, leadership, education and research. Staff can use assessed work, supervised practice, feedback and service activity to demonstrate capability within a portfolio.
Certificate ≠ Enhanced Practitioner title
The Certificate evidences learning and competence development. Enhanced practice is demonstrated through the work actually undertaken in a supported role.
MSc ≠ Advanced Practitioner title
A Master’s degree supports advanced academic and professional development. Advanced status depends on a role mapped across all four pillars with appropriate governance.
Learning + role + evidence
Use the learning to build knowledge, skills and portfolio evidence, then apply it within an appropriately designed, supervised and governed post.
History and legacy
Built from practice. Developed over time.
The current offer brings together decades of NHS teaching, clinical development, postgraduate education, co-production and international collaboration.
We keep this history visible because managers should be able to see what sits behind the pathway: real practice, sustained partnerships and an offer that has evolved in response to learners, services and evidence.
NHS practice and teaching
Sensory approaches developed with services and people using them across the lifespan, including adult mental health and wider clinical contexts.
Postgraduate partnership
The team helped shape early UK and Ireland Master’s-level sensory integration education and developed the partnership with Ulster University.
ASI Wise established
ASI Wise was created to protect affordable, clinically grounded and hands-on education connected to real-world practice.
MSc Advancing Practice pathway
A deliberately flexible route linked specialist ASI learning with postgraduate credit, research and the four pillars of advanced practice.
One connected workforce offer
Universal awareness, free Sensory Ladders®, workshops, Certificate modules, MSc progression, mentoring, Communities of Practice and research support sit within one pathway.
Direct links
Move from planning to current learning.
These links take managers and learners to the relevant overview, current shop listing or support page.
Awareness and short learning
Workshops and consultation
Certificate route
Postgraduate progression
Ongoing professional support
Plan and fund
For NHS and service managers
Build capability without training everyone to do the same thing.
We can help you map staff groups to proportionate learning, stage investment, support implementation and keep specialist progression visible.
Start a planning conversation
Tell us about the service, staff groups, current practice, priorities and the change you want the learning to support.