My Story
I’m Laura, the founder of The Sleep Shift.
I’m an HCPC-registered Occupational Therapist with nearly 15 years of experience working across NHS and private psychiatric services, as well as in independent practice. I now specialise in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBTi) and coaching for sleep difficulties.
As an Occupational Therapist, my focus has always been on helping people live full and meaningful lives. Sleep plays a huge role in that — it can either support us or stand in our way.
I understand this deeply, because I’ve struggled with sleep myself, both as a child and as an adult. I know how lonely and frustrating it can be to lie awake at night, stuck with your thoughts, dreading the day ahead. Insomnia can feel overwhelming and all-consuming.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
My Approach
Sleep isn’t just about the hours we spend in bed at night — it reflects our entire life. Everything we do, think, and feel during the day impacts our sleep, and in turn, how we sleep affects everything we do, think, and feel. We can’t ignore this connection.
I work with you not only to fully understand your sleep difficulties but also to understand your life — and how you want to live it. Together, we explore how sleep actually works, uncover the habits, thoughts, and emotions that may be getting in the way, and implement small, sustainable shifts that lead to long-term change.
My approach combines therapeutic and coaching techniques, tailored specifically to you and your needs. It’s rooted in CBTi — the gold-standard, evidence-based treatment for insomnia (recommended by NICE) — and focuses on addressing the underlying causes of your sleep difficulties for real, lasting results.
Even if you feel like you’ve tried everything, I promise you: good sleep is possible.
What is CBTi?
CBTi is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia and is:
A structured, evidence based therapy that is considered the the ‘gold standard’ treatment for insomnia.
Designed to support people to improve their sleep through learning more about how sleep works and adjusting thoughts and behaviours that are contributing to their sleep challenges.
Tailored to your individual sleep needs and challenges.
Aims to target the route cause(s) of your sleep issues.
Shown to be highly effective in improving sleep in the long term in comparison to other treatments for insomnia including medication.
Rest assured, you are in safe hands…
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Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) and Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registered Occupational Therapist with nearly 15 years clinical experience in private and NHS mental health services and independent practice.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapist for Insomnia (CBTi) Practitioner (CBTi is the NICE recommended gold standard treatment for Insomnia).
Certified Transformational Coach (Animas Centre for Coaching).
Member of The British Sleep Society (BSS).
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS ) checked.
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My approach goes beyond sleep hygiene techniques you can find in a quick online search or with some other sleep professionals and is rooted in CBTi.
As an Occupational Therapist and Coach, I steer away from medical model interventions and focus on you. Through a comprehensive initial assessment I seek to understand your difficulties, strengths, needs and goals for your sleep and overall health and wellbeing. This enables me to provide your bespoke programme involving the appropriate combination of therapeutic and coaching techniques.
Sleep, whether good or bad, does not occur in isolation. Multiple physical, psychological and social factors of our daily lives all influence sleep so are considered and addressed in our ongoing work together.
I also believe education and knowledge is empowering and leads to positive and sustainable change so I will always focus on you understanding the science, evidence and processes utilised in our work together.
Small shifts lead to big change.
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Real change takes time and dedication, however the majority of clients start to experience improvements within a few sessions. In the longer term, you will inevitably experience not only improved sleep but a positive and long term impact on your overall health, wellbeing and productivity including improved concentration, alertness, mood, memory and relationships.
