Course Information

My why

I'm an occupational therapist based in Aotearoa/New Zealand with a special interest in sensory processing and sensory modulation. I'm also multiply neurodivergent with several chronic illnesses, which means my practice is grounded in both clinical evidence and lived experience. I don't teach this content because it's theoretically interesting, I teach it because I love it, it has changed my life, and I've seen it change the lives of my clients.

I have a personal and professional passion for sensory processing, sensory modulation and related topics. This interest began in my occupational therapy training and continued to be a focus in my professional development for years. There is a lot to cover in our professional degrees and I know I wish I had received more training around sensory assessment, needs and supports, especially information that was adult focused.

Working in adult mental health and disability I would consistently see a sensory component to what people were experiencing. I felt it personally, too. Coming home from work completely depleted, not from the clinical complexity of the work, but from the fluorescent lights, the background noise, the relentless sensory demands of existing in environments not designed for my nervous system. I masked my way through sensory overload for years before I had language for what was happening and started to understand my own neurodivergence and sensory profile.

When I started going deeper into the evidence, the frameworks, and the practical application things shifted. Not just for me personally, but for the people I was supporting. I began to see how much sensory experience underpins our mental health, wellbeing, and daily functioning. And I realised how significant the gap was between what most health professionals are taught and what clients actually need.

There is very little training that goes deep on sensory processing specifically for adults in mental health contexts. This training exists to fill that gap — and to give you tools you can bring straight into practice.

Why this course?

You already know the basics. You might have heard of Dunn's model, you understand that some clients are sensory sensitive, and you've noticed sensory processing at play in your sessions. But knowing the theory and having a practical framework you can confidently use are two very different things.

Imagine finishing a session with a client who has spent years being told they're "too much" or "overreacting" and being able help them make sense of their experience. Not just naming it, but exploring it with them, building tools together, and exploring strategies they can use independently.

What if you could:

• Go beyond the basics of Dunn's model to really understand how all four sensory processing patterns show up in adult mental health — and what to do with that information in session?

• Explore all eight sensory systems with confidence, including vestibular, proprioception, and interoception — the senses most often missed, and most often relevant?

• Understand variable sensitivity — why the same client can tolerate something one week and be completely overwhelmed by it the next — and explain this in a way that lands?

• Use practical tools like sensory ladders, sensory menus, and sensory kits that clients can take away and use independently in their daily lives?

• Know when and how to use sensory accommodations in your practice environment and understand the importance of adjustable sensory environments?

• Understand your own sensory processing — and use that self-knowledge to model self-advocacy, support your own wellbeing, and become a more regulated and effective practitioner?

• Know clearly when to refer on, and what practice guidelines and screening tools are relevant to your work?

The gap isn't in your ability or commitment. It's in the availability of training that goes deep, stays adult-focused, and bridges theory into practice. This training does exactly that.

Participants in the live sessions described the training as immediately practical, validating, and unlike anything they'd encountered in their formal training. One participant reflected that she had spent years believing she was simply bad at managing stress, until understanding her sensory profile gave her a framework that finally made sense of her experience.

What's covered in the on-demand training modules?

Chapters 1 and 2: Evidence, Frameworks, and Patterns

• The evidence base for sensory modulation in mental health

• Practice guidelines from New Zealand, Australia, and beyond

• The eight sensory systems — including vestibular, proprioception, and interoception

• Dunn's Sensory Processing Model in depth (seeking, avoiding, sensitivity, low registration)

• Sensory buckets, variable sensitivity, and the sensory jars concept

• Additional complexities: trauma, hormones, neurological thresholds, and cumulative input

Chapters 3 and 4: Practical Tools and Application

• Window of tolerance and sensory ladders

• Autism Level Up Energy Meter

• Sensory menus (and why I don't call them diets)

• Building sensory kits — practical, low-cost, and client-led

• DBT-informed crisis survival skills with a sensory lens

• Anti-dissociative strategies and intense sensation tools

• Sensory accommodations in your practice environment

• Screening tools and when to refer on

• Why we do not use exposure or desensitisation for sensory processing — and what to do instead

Trigger warning - brief mentions of suicidality and self-harm as things that sensory modulation can support with. No specific examples are gone into.

This training is for you if:

• You are a mental health professional (e.g. occupational therapist, counsellor, psychologist, social worker, nurse, etc.) — with some awareness of sensory processing and a desire to go deeper and get practical

• You want adult-focused training that bridges evidence and real-world application

• You support people with trauma histories, borderline personality disorder, complex PTSD, or other mental health presentations or neurodivergence where sensory processing is at play

• You want to understand your own sensory processing as well as your clients'.

You already know sensory processing matters. Now you can get the frameworks, the evidence, and the tools to confidently use it in your practice.