About Us
Clinical expertise, grounded in real-world practice
NEST provides thoughtful, therapeutic support to children, young people, and adults across residential care, schools, and social care settings.
We recognise that people with complex neurodevelopmental, emotional, behavioural, and functional needs are often supported by multiple professionals and services. While each brings valuable expertise, this can result in recommendations that sit alongside one another rather than forming a coherent understanding of the individual.
We recognise the practical challenge this can create for the settings within which we work, who may be left trying to implement multiple, and sometimes competing recommendations from different professionals. NEST brings these perspectives together, reducing fragmentation and developing a shared, holistic formulation of need and a more coherent approach to support.
What makes NEST different is our frontline understanding of care and education. Our clinical team brings first-hand experience of working as support workers, residential managers and teaching assistants before training clinically. This gives us a genuine understanding of the day-to-day realities, pressures and relationships that shape this work.
Because of this, we work collaboratively with everyone around the individual, including care teams, school staff, social workers, and families, to create support that makes sense on the ground.
Multidisciplinary by design
NEST brings together professionals from different clinical disciplines:
Psychology
Psychotherapy
Occupational Therapy
Speech and Language Therapy
Positive Behaviour Support
Our aim is not simply to provide access to multiple professionals, but to bring those perspectives together to develop a shared, holistic formulation of need.
Meet the Founders
Dr Laurie Preston, Clinical Psychologist
Laurie is a HCPC-registered Clinical Psychologist with experience supporting young people in the social care system, both as an embedded clinician within residential homes and within Children’s Social Care in South London. She began her post-qualification career in Social Care CAMHS, working directly alongside social workers, foster carers and residential providers to strengthen psychological thinking, trauma-informed practice and placement stability.
Clinically, Laurie works from a relational and neurodevelopmentally informed approach. She is trained in specialist assessments, including autism, ADHD and intellectual disability assessments, and has additional experience in assessing and understanding concerns relating to harmful sexual behaviour. Her practice integrates trauma understanding, systemic thinking, and attention to sensory and communication needs.
Laurie has research publications exploring interventions for foster carers, as well as a recent publication with the British Psychological Society outlining an embedded multidisciplinary model of best practice for neurodivergent young people in residential care. Her doctoral thesis explored the experiences and challenges faced by residential childcare workers, contributing to the evidence base for workforce support and reflective practice.
As Co-Director of NEST, Laurie leads on clinical governance, ensuring that NEST remains values-led, collaborative and grounded in what genuinely supports stability and emotional safety for young people and staff teams.
Claire Cooper, Occupational Therapist
Claire is an HCPC-registered Occupational Therapist with experience supporting children and young people with a wide range of needs. Her professional background includes working with children with neurodevelopmental conditions, learning disabilities, and social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs.
Claire specialises in understanding how children process sensory information, regulate emotions, develop motor skills, and engage in learning and daily activities. Her approach is child-centred, strengths-based, and evidence-informed, ensuring that each child receives support that is tailored to their individual needs, abilities, and environment.
Claire works closely with families, schools, and other professionals to create practical strategies that can be used at home and in educational settings. Her aim is to help children build confidence, independence, and resilience, while empowering parents and professionals with the knowledge and tools to support long-term development.
At NEST Clinical Services, Claire is passionate about creating a nurturing, inclusive service where children feel understood, supported, and able to thrive. She is the Safeguarding Lead and is committed to upholding the highest standards of safeguarding practice, promoting a strong safeguarding culture across the service, and ensuring that the welfare of children and young people remains central to all clinical and organisational decision-making.
Contact us
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