About us
Who we are
We are a lived-experience-led Community Interest Company dedicated to bringing state-of-the-art sensory support and decompression spaces directly to rural communities across Devon.
The Wandering Sanctuary was conceived after our founding family experienced firsthand the immense challenges of navigating autistic burnout. Upon discharge from hospital, it became painfully clear that accessing dedicated sensory support spaces in rural Devon involves massive barriers, fraught with exhausting travel times, high costs, and severe sensory overload before families even arrive at a static facility. We realised the system needed a complete narrative change.
Instead of forcing neurodiverse and sensory-sensitive individuals to travel miles for a moment of peace, we decided to put that peace on wheels. We are custom-engineering a deeply calming multi-sensory environment inside a towable trailer. By bringing an oasis of interactive bubble walls, calming fiber optics, and gentle environmental controls directly to school gates, village greens, and community hubs, we are breaking down isolation and making true sensory inclusion completely accessible.
Our approach
Our Mission
To bring people together and unlock potential through early-stage support.
Our mission is to bring people together to build strong relationships in and across communities that are often isolated by Devon’s rural geography. By delivering a mobile, co-designed sanctuary directly to families, schools, and local groups, we ensure neurodiverse individuals receive vital sensory decompression at the earliest possible stage. We meet people exactly where they are, providing the foundational regulation and support they need to avoid crisis points, build social connections, and fully reach their potential.
Our Vision
To transform local spaces and relieve escalating community demands.
We envision a future where we dynamically improve the places and spaces that matter to communities, instantly transforming standard village greens, school car parks, and community hubs into inclusive, accessible havens. In doing so, we directly support people, communities, and organisations facing more demands and challenges because of the cost-of-living crisis. By removing the immense financial and fuel burdens of traveling to distant, costly static facilities, we deliver a vital, accessible service that relieves pressure on squeezed family budgets and over-stretched local infrastructure alike.
Our Partners
Measurable Milestones
Assets locked
Our Board & Governance
Legal structure
Wandering Sanctuary CIC is registered in England as a Community Interest Company Limited by Guarantee (Company Number: 17247240). We operate with a statutory Asset Lock, ensuring all profits are reinvested and our assets are legally tied to serving the community.
Community Co-Design (Lived-Experience Led)
Our approach is built on community co-design. Led by authentic lived experience, we continually consult with neurodiverse individuals, rural schools, and local support groups to ensure our vehicle’s interior engineering and session structures directly address real-world needs.
Company Directors
Freya Kotting
Visionary Founder & Lived-Experience Lead
Freya is the founding inspiration behind The Wandering Sanctuary, conceiving the idea after recognising the immense barriers to accessing sensory spaces in rural Devon following her own discharge from hospital. Navigating autism, ADHD, and a significant period of health recovery, Freya brings vital, first-hand lived experience to our board regarding the transformative impact of dedicated sensory environments. Currently focusing on her ongoing recovery, building self-confidence, and life at home with her family and two spaniels, Freya’s goal in setting up The Wandering Sanctuary is to use her voice and experience to ensure accessible decompression spaces are brought directly to those who need them most.
Dr Nicola Cosgrave
Consultant Clinical Psychologist & Clinical Director
Nicola brings world-class clinical oversight and robust safeguarding expertise to our board. An honorary consultant clinical psychologist, Nicola completed her clinical training at the Maudsley Hospital, and led national and specialist clinical services in the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) for over 30 years. She has particular expertise with families who have experienced complex trauma. Nicola recognises the value of evidence-based practice, evaluation and implementation She is a NICE fellow, holds visiting research positions at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) KCL, and the School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow. Nicola has first hand experience of neurodiversity within her own family, and she is deeply dedicated to advancing evidence-based sensory support in our communities.
Gavin Horgan
Head of Millfield School & Education Lead
Gavin brings an exceptional wealth of senior executive leadership spanning the state, independent, and international education sectors. Holding an MA (Oxon) in Classics from the University of Oxford, Gavin has a distinguished track record of driving organisational transformation and steering large-scale structural development programs. His extensive governance experience provides elite strategic direction for our rural operational deployments. Having had his own life chances transformed as a boarding school bursary recipient, Gavin is deeply passionate about breaking down traditional barriers to accessibility and empowering young people to become active disruptors for good. Gavin frequently speaks on the challenges neurodiverse learners face and how institutions can level the field.
Piers Kotting, MBA
Entrepreneur & Managing Director
Piers brings over 30 years of expertise across the NHS, healthcare innovation, and the university sector, recognised as a Top 100 Health Tech Influencer and an honorary Associate Professor at the University of Exeter. An NHS Innovation Accelerator Fellow, Piers has a proven track record of launching and scaling successful social enterprises in the region—notably founding Catch 77 CIC to support rural families across central Devon. His firsthand experience with the School for Social Entrepreneurs scale-up program provides our board with invaluable operational blueprinting. Driven by deep personal dedication as Freya’s dad, Piers beautifully fuses elite enterprise capability with true lived experience.
Our Strategic Objectives
- Reduce Crisis Points
Early decompression spaces lower instances of severe autistic burnout.
- Save family resources
Eliminate hours of travel time and high transport costs for low-income rural families.
- Upskill communities
Provide rural school staff, care workers and volunteers with direct exposure to sensory best practices.