SEND Tutoring chats to Joe Phillips Founder and Director of the SENSES Project

Today on SEND Tutoring’s podcast is Joe Phillips, Founder and Director of the SENSES Project. A service targeted towards meeting the needs of young people as they “age out” of children’s services and education. Simply put, “They help our clients develop the skills they need to navigate life themselves.”

We provide this through our services for young neurodiverse adults with Autism, Aspergers, ADHD, Sensory Processing, and Mental Health needs – welcome, Joe!

The Questions we sent ahead of the podcast were:

1. The SENSES Project has set up SEN reflective workshops. Can you tell the listeners what these do and who they’re targeted towards?

2. You hope the SEN reflective workshops can be used nationally and in alternative provisions. Can you give our listeners an update on that?

3. How do the projects you’re running cut costs for local authorities?

Responsive Services:

• Independence Support Programme – 1:1 Mentoring for young people (16+)

The programme helps our clients learn, grow, and adapt to independently living with their own challenges while achieving their goals. This support is typically provided over an average of 2 years, transitioning toward working opportunities and gradually reducing professional support needs  

• Neurodiverse Workshops – 10 weeks focussed on a key area of development for young people/adults (16+)

Our Workshops are a tailored option if you can access a group setting. This helps young adults access a unique style of workshop that naturally creates social opportunities and a chance for participants to learn, share, and be inspired by their own experiences relative to the focus subject. Workshops are a shorter-term progression option designed to inspire, excite, and kickstart your independent journey. We currently offer 4 workshops:

1. Communication Skills and Social Development

2. Dealing with Challenges (Mindset, Emotional Understanding, etc).

3. Employable Skills (Interview Skills, Skills to maintain work, etc).

4. Independent Living Skills (Bills, Budgeting, Safety, Etc).

• SEN 1:1 Mentoring – As an AP, developing the skills and confidence to have fun and engage in their next steps, learning, and skills to navigate life after education.

In 2023, we took the chance to be involved in a new approach to AP working with Education before students become NEET. We are currently working with Bournemouth and Poole College to trial new combined approaches and best engage students to develop the skills they need to navigate life after college. This needs to be a very tailored 1:1 approach for some students, which we can do. However, mainstream education often can’t. 

Preventative Services:

• SEN Reflective Workshops – For education and social care providers (30 – 40 people per workshop)

Our Reflective Workshop model is a great way to nurture and inspire your team. We will run a workshop on a specific subject to guide learning from your team’s experience, understanding and knowledge. We encourage education settings to include parents in the workshop to bring parents and teachers together for a common goal – learning from each other’s and our experience for the benefit of the children at the heart of it. The workshops focus on:

1. Inspiring Independence with Neurodiversity (Belonging, Affirmation, and Inspiring Personal Growth)

2. Dealing with Challenges (How we deal with challenges, Behavioural Communication, and meeting the needs of young people).

3. Sensory Experience (Understand sensory processing, how to use sensory inputs to meet needs, and experiencing a sense of overload).

My passion is trauma and sensory processing, particularly how we meet people’s needs and develop the skills to meet those needs for themselves. A lot of neurodiverse people don’t need to have social support for the rest of their lives or to feel as though they’ll never make it. The lines between social care, mental health, and education don’t need to be so rigid. I aim to use our models to demonstrate a better, more adaptive, and genuinely person-centred way to work. Most of the people we support want to work, feel confident, make friends, and be supportive of others. These are skills to learn; we just need to think adaptively about how we develop those skills correctly for each individual.

One of my big focuses at the moment is to try to evidence how embracing these models and approaches actually cuts costs for local authorities but improves the ultimate outcomes and quality of support provided. I believe it’s time to move away from old-school care and education mindsets and put the people we are working with first.

If you have any questions on the topics discussed in this podcast, or are looking for help finding a specialist one-to-one tutor for your child, book a free consultation with us today, we’ll be happy to help.