Carter Kits

Carter Kits™ Sensory Bags contain clinically proven items known to comfort and appropriately focus children who are on the autism spectrum, as well as many other children who occasionally find themselves overwhelmed or otherwise impacted by traumatic events.   Carter Kits were initially designed for First Responders, however, the scope of our mission has expanded to many other professions including mental health, schools, churches, emergency departments, and more.  Carter Kits is your go-to sensory bag.   More importantly, we offer training specific to your needs!

We bring decades of combined and highly relevant personal and professional experience, to anticipate and respond to the needs of children who find the comfort of a normally predictable and well-choreographed life shattered by a cacophony of disturbing sights, sounds and smells typically associated with first-responder call-out situations.  Our experience involves police, fire, mental health, emergency departments and clinical.

Carter Kits™ began as a grass roots call to action embodied by a simple text message sent by Justin Severs to Brandon Hausbeck and Andrew Keller  in 2019 - "We need a tool to help us when we arrive at a scene with a special needs child." Justin is a detective with the Saginaw Township Police Department. Justin's son Carter has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and his idea was to equip as many police, fire and EMS vehicles as possible with the means to calm distressed children like Carter when arriving on scene. Andrew connected with a family friend, Dr. Ellen Preen, a clinical neuropsychologist who has both a daughter with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and extensive experience working with individuals impacted by ASD, trauma, anxiety, depression and learning challenges. Together, Andrew, Justin, Brandon and Ellen see the need to expand the scope of our efforts to any child in crisis who may benefit from the contents of a Carter Kits™ Sensory Bag. 

Effective January 1, 2022, Carter Kits™ became a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.