Matt Laurie

I am an experienced teacher and consultant trainer and specialising in communication with people with special needs and support for their caregivers. I have worked with people with special needs for 20 years, initially as a community artist and musician. I then worked freelance for the Hesley Group from 2008 -2018 as developing the Intensive Interaction provision in collaboration with the clinical team, and supporting staff working in the most challenging circumstances. I have developed the music and special needs practice in parallel with this work and have now published this approach as “Rapport-based Communication”, a principle that I believe lies at the heart of many social interventions and therapies.

I underpin all my training and consultancy work with the social learning theory of Etienne and Bev Wenger Trayner, with whom I trained intensively in 2014 and 2015. My work is also influenced by 20 years of qigong and mindfulness practice and teaching.