Following a fire at Disabled Living’s premises, Redbank House in October 2009 and the subsequent refurbishment of the property, I decided to incorporate two new sensory rooms within our new ‘Health & Social Care Hub’. The sensory rooms would provide additional resources for our clients and would generate income for the organisation as clients would hire them on a sessional basis.
My previous experience of these rooms was fairly limited and it was crucial the rooms could cater for clients with a diverse range of needs. With my limited knowledge of the equipments and its use, I thought it essential to engage with an expert in this field on a number of levels – the equipment was expensive and I needed to be confident I was purchasing the most appropriate equipment to avoid costly mistakes. Time factor was a major issue - researching all the companies and comparing ideas and pricing structures was a daunting task when trying to juggle day to day work. Most importantly it was essential my perspective clients would have a stimulating or relaxing experience when they visited the sensory rooms.
It was not a difficult decision to contract Concept Training as a consultant. It was evident from the first telephone conversation they had the knowledge, expertise and experience to guide me to turn my vision into a reality. The have a responsive and flexible approach and I felt my requirements were really understood. Communication was relaxed and easy. The whole process proved to be stress free.
We are absolutely delighted with the end result. We have two sensory rooms which will be constantly in use. They are up to date and practical and they will serve their intended purpose brilliantly. The rooms really have the “wow” factor!
Take a look at the result www.redbankhouse.com
Debra Evans
Chief Executive, Disabled Living
Most sensory rooms are designed to cater for diverse groups of people. A sort of "all singing, all dancing, all things to all people" facility.
There are several commercial companies on the market who are capable of designing these generic rooms using a standard range of equipment.
However, where a multi-sensory environment is being designed for a specific individual it is crucial to involve professionals whose knowledge makes it possible to use the client or child as the starting point for the project.
Concept Training now offer an Independent Consultancy service for the design of multi-sensory environments which combines their vast experience in this field with the knowledge and expertise of their "Special Needs" Consultants who can offer the "person centred" approach.
The service would begin with an information gathering exercise where we would ask for copies of any assessments and a "profile" of the individual. This would be followed by a visit to the person/family where we also visit the site of the proposed area. During this visit our team of Consultants would gain enough information to be able to go away and draw up a brief. This brief would be sent to three companies (of the clients choice, or we are quite happy to recommend the most reputable ones).
On receipt of the designs and quotations, we would then meet again with the family or their representatives to go through the "pros and cons" of each, suggesting any amendments or alterations. Once this exercise has been completed we would hope that the client would be confident to place their order with the company of their choice.
As you can imagine, the service is very "bespoke" and the time and cost involved would very much depend on the travelling time and the complexity of the project.
In most cases there will be the one chance to get this right and we feel very confident that using our Consultancy service will lead to a multi-sensory environment which is personalised, fit for purpose and which takes into account the changing needs of the individual.
“The Consultancy service provided by Concept Training was personalised, friendly and efficient. It really focused our minds at the outset and provided a strong foundation to develop the project further. The support was very flexible and responsive and provided much needed additional capacity and expertise”
Sally McGrail, Commissioning manager, Children and Young People’s Services, Warrington
For further information please Email info@concept-training.co.uk or telephone 01524 832828
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