2025

Sensing Friends 26

Sensing Friends is now a registered charity.

Charity number 1205207

We support these young people experiencing life through different sensory experiences and their peers to form deeper, more meaningful connections with each other. The young people we support may have

a physical sensory need, such as a visual or hearing impairment
a neurological sensory need such as ADHD, ASD , AuDHD, HSP or an emotional sensory need such as PTSD or general anxiety.
As well as our weekly groups for everyone we offer our Sanctuary group, also open to all. This Sanctuary group runs a couple of times a year. Although all our groups are open to everyone we do have some groups that focus on a specific needs within the community. The Sanctuary group focuses on the needs of young female refugees who have been displaced from their own country. The Sanctuary group places a particular focus on providing a peaceful, trauma free well-being environment, with gentle crafts and cooking activities within nature.We build on self confidence, self esteem and break down barriers that stem from negative stereotyping.

JANUARY to APRIL

One to one counselling and emotional support either online or face to face within nature
Weekly online peer support on Sundays at 4pm
Weekly online storytelling on (day of week to be confirmed)

APRIL to DECEMBER

Alongside the support listed above, throughout April to December we also run our Circle Of Friendship and Drop-in groups – which are face to face friendships groups within nature.
Our Out and About group is another chance for the young people to meet outside the Plot, within the community, while being supported by the team. Activities such as bowling and Saturday morning cafe meet ups take place to support the young people socialise together each month.

Friendly Fridays

Our Friendly Friday groups run every Friday throughout the year.

The Sanctuary

The sanctuary group runs twice a year, usually in August and then again towards the end of the year. In August the group is run at our warm friendly Plot 97 and again in October either at our Plot 97, depending on the weather, or inside if the weather is not appropriate to be outside.

For more information, please check out the links on this page or contact us directly for referrals to any of our sessions.

NEWS:

Sensing Friends AGM 2026

Hello from Sensing Friends

We would love to warmly invite you to our 2026 Annual General Meeting.

Date: Thursday 14th May 2026
Time: 7:00pm
Location: Online via Zoom

This is a chance to come together, reflect on the year, and look ahead as a community.

All are very welcome.

We will send out the Zoom link shortly before the meeting.

If you would like to attend, please contact:
penny@sensingfriends.org

With warm wishes,
Sensing Friends ?

Bringing connection, community and support together ?

Click here to view the Sensing Friends Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2025 notes.

Home

Who we are

We are all born but we are not all born the same. At Sensing Friends we celebrate this, supporting young people to come together and embrace their similarities and differences.

At Sensing Friends we offer a range of services that support young people aged 8 to 25 years in the south east, who are dealing with any kind of Sensory needs such as physical (sight loss, hearing loss) neurological (ADHD, ASD, HSP) and/or emotional ( PTSD, trauma, anxiety).

Please note, We are currently prioritising young refugees.

Please visit our Community Friendship Project page to find out more about our latest project, make a referral or discover how we may be able help a young person who might benefit from our support.

What we do

With the help of nature and creativity we help young people explore how they feel about themselves, their relationships with others and with the world around them.

Why this is important

Belonging is a need we all have. Feeling excluded or unable to join in, for whatever reason, can bring up many deep emotional issues for young people.

How we help

With the help of music, nature, creative art projects, peer support groups and one to one support, we help young people tap into difficult feelings they may have about themselves or others and find a way to overcome them.

About Sensing Friends

We are a group of trained and experienced counsellors, eco therapists, creative practitioners musicians and community enterprise professionals, who provide services that facilitate emotional support for young people - tackling issues related to bullying and social exclusion. With the help of creativity and nature we support young people to form a deeper understanding of themselves and positive meaningful connection with their peers.