About NEST
NEST Clinical Services is a multidisciplinary team (MDT) providing thoughtful, therapeutic support to children, young people, and adults across residential care, schools, social care settings, and family contexts. Our work is grounded in an understanding of development, connection, and the importance of feeling safe and understood.
We bring together a range of clinical perspectives and work closely as a team, offering the depth of specialist services alongside a flexible and responsive approach that fits around the real needs of the settings and people we work with. Our clinical work spans neurodevelopmental needs, complex mental health difficulties, trauma, and additional needs, supporting individuals whose presentations are often multifaceted and who have not always been well-served by more traditional service models.
What makes us different is our shared background. All of our clinicians have previously worked in residential care, as support workers, team leaders, or managers, before training in their clinical roles. This means we truly understand the day-to-day realities of supporting young people and adults in care, whether in a home, a classroom, or a community setting. We know how demanding this work can be, and how important it is that clinical support feels realistic, practical, and achievable for the people delivering it.
Because of this, we work collaboratively with everyone around the individual, care teams, school staff, social workers, and families, to create support that makes sense in everyday life, not just on paper.
Alongside our embedded work in residential, educational, and social care settings, we also offer assessments and therapeutic support directly to families and commissioning bodies. This includes specialist assessments such as autism and ADHD assessments, psychological assessments, and personalised intervention packages for both children and adults. Our aim is to provide consistent, meaningful support across all parts of a person's world — and to be a team that the people we work alongside genuinely want to call.
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.
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