Creating a Safe Space for Regulation and Recovery

I am fundraising to create a therapeutic hydrotherapy and sensory retreat space at home for my son who I will refer to as K, who has complex additional needs.

For the last four years, our family has faced significant challenges that most people never see. Due to a combination of neurodevelopmental needs, severe anxiety, sensory difficulties and severe trauma from domestic abuse, daily life can be incredibly difficult. Our life looks very different to that of a typical family. The everyday things that can be taken for granted like going to school, visiting a park, going swimming, attending appointments, going on a day out or simply leaving the house are often impossible for us.

K has been completely out of education for around four years due to not coping at school. This resulted in a crisis that saw him bed bound for months and hospitalised as he was too overwhelmed to eat and lost all of his safe foods. Since then, there have been multiple attempts to find and provide suitable education and support, but each attempt has ultimately failed to provide something he can safely and consistently access. I have also had to fight to get any provision in place for K and will soon be returning to the education tribunal again to try and secure provision he can access.

However, the impact has gone far beyond education. His world has gradually become smaller and smaller. I (his mum) am the only person he feels safe enough to spend time with.

For much of the last four years, K has been largely unable to leave the house because of the level of anxiety and distress associated with going outside and being in unfamiliar environments. There was a brief period of improvement last summer when we were able to do a little more, but this was not sustained. During that time he liked going swimming and visiting our local animal farm to cuddle the bunnies.

Over the last year, he has managed just two short outings to our local park. He has not been on a day out since June 2025. This is not due to a lack of opportunities but because he is just too anxious to leave the safety of home and be around other people. Any attempts to push him to progress have resulted in him falling back into mental health crisis.

This means the opportunities most children experience regularly like playing with friends, exploring new places, taking part in activities, enjoying a family day out, or going on holiday have become incredibly rare.

Even activities specifically designed for children with additional needs are not necessarily accessible to K. The combination of sensory overload, anxiety, unpredictability and difficulty coping with unfamiliar environments can mean that something intended to help can actually become overwhelming. K has quite severe contamination fears which can make using shared spaces very difficult.

I have tried to find ways of bringing positive experiences to K rather than continually expecting him to manage environments that he cannot currently tolerate. This has made me realise how important it is to create accessible opportunities within the safety of home so he can still have fun experiences.

One of the few things that consistently helps is water based activities. We did have a pool up over the summer and K really loved spending time in there when it was warm enough to use. When we used the pool I saw an improvement in his wellbeing, he seemed happier and more relaxed.

Being in warm water provides a unique combination of deep pressure, sensory input and physical relaxation. It can help K regulate when he is overwhelmed and gives him an opportunity to move, play and experience something enjoyable without leaving the safety of home. This would also give us an opportunity to connect whilst calming his nervous system. His challenges can make it difficult for us to spend time together without him becoming frustrated with activities.

Unfortunately, regular access to hydrotherapy or swimming facilities is not realistic for us due to K's significant barriers like fear of leaving home, shared environments, and sensory sensitivities.

A therapeutic hot tub at home would remove many of those barriers.

It would mean that therapeutic water-based sensory input is available in a familiar and safe environment, without the pressure of travelling or having to manage an unfamiliar setting. It could be used when K is calm, but also during periods when he is struggling and needs help to regulate.

I am therefore fundraising for a therapeutic hot tub and a protective enclosure to create an all-weather hydrotherapy and sensory retreat space for K.

The enclosure is an important part of the project. It would provide a private, protected and predictable environment that could be used throughout the year, while reducing some of the external sensory distractions that can make outdoor activities difficult. It would also enable year round use which is vital as K needs consistency and predictability to engage with an activity.

For a child who has spent around four years without access to education and whose world has become so restricted that he has managed only two short park outings in the past year, having something accessible at home would make a meaningful difference.

I want to give him somewhere he can regulate that feels safe and experience water, movement and sensory input. Somewhere he can have fun and that gives him the opportunity to experience more of childhood without having to leave the safety of home.

Any contribution, no matter how small, will help me get closer to creating this space for K.

Thank you for taking the time to read our story, for helping us share it, and for any support you are able to give.

7.5% of all donations to Tree of Hope in relation to this appeal will be allocated to the general charitable purposes of Tree of Hope to cover our core operating costs.

If we raise insufficient funds, or surplus funds, then the funds will be used, if appropriate, to fund support for our child’s needs in accordance with Tree of Hope’s charitable objects. If in those circumstances we are unable to use all or part of the funds for the benefit of our child in accordance with Tree of Hope’s charitable objectives, then any funds that cannot be used will be transferred to be used for the general charitable purposes of Tree of Hope.