Laura designs and delivers bespoke workshops and retreats which draw on her professional coaching and mindfulness training, her background in curriculum design and instruction, and her intimate understanding of life as an academic and writer. Her approach is to create safe, supportive spaces where communities of solidarity are built; participants’ experience and wisdom are valued; and challenging questions can be addressed with care.
Workshops are conducted online or in person and can be varied in length. Past workshops Laura has offered include inductions for PhD students on writing, wellbeing, and productivity; departmental discussions around communication, community and diversity, equity & inclusion initiatives; and half-day and full-day programmes on developing healthy and productive writing practices.
Retreats are developed in collaboration with research centres and other organisations. Laura designs and facilitates single- and multi-day programmes that respond both to organisational objectives and individual participants’ needs. As a former academic, she is keenly aware how precious everyone’s time is, and she makes every effort to work efficiently and responsively. To date, she has offered residential retreats around developing research collaborations, building community, and/or establishing sustainable writing practices.
Some feedback from recent participants :
Thank you so much for sending all of these resources through and for delivering the session this morning. As well as being extremely useful for thinking about time management/writing habits in academia, I just wanted to feedback how much I appreciated the thought and care that went into making the session an inclusive space. As a neurodivergent person, I’ve always really struggled with online meetings and tend to leave with a headache/feeling dysregulated but this was probably the first time I’ve come away from an online workshop feeling calm and well.
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The writing retreat provided a unique opportunity to connect with [centre] members as writers, learn from their experiences, and share my own perspectives. The group dynamic was refreshingly horizontal, fostering a genuine sense of support and collaboration that made me feel in a safe place. We actively engaged in giving and receiving constructive feedback, empowering each other to overcome writing challenges and elevate our craft, like a community.
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The writing retreat was exceptionally well-organized and structured.
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I could honestly say everything about it was extremely helpful. Aside from learning about the stuff that worked for me specifically, I also became aware of the habits I had that weren’t very helpful. So it enhanced my writing routine by learning new tools, but also by letting go of the stuff that made it a less effective process. The community we made is also such a great one and is very supportive. I really did enjoy every part of it.
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Laura was brilliant in creating a productive and caring environment to learn and write in.
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I previously was on a course with Rowena Murray and one session modelled on hers. These were effective, but Laura’s was more personable and process-oriented (and less target-driven), which I preferred.
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The bespoke Writing for Success programme developed for our department by Laura provided a valuable opportunity for department colleagues to connect as writers, learn from each other’s experiences, and share their own perspectives. The programme was well organized and structured. Laura was excellent in creating a productive and caring environment for learning and writing. Her approach was more personable and process-oriented than other coaches, which resonated well with our team. This focus on process over targets helped us develop and embed a healthy and sustainable writing practice. The Writing for Success programme significantly improved our approach to writing. We have been enjoying putting into practice the skills and insights gained. Thank you, Laura, for your valuable guidance and for helping us cultivate a thriving writing culture.
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The writing retreat was truly transformative for me. A revolution! I have been thoroughly enjoying putting into practice the skills and insights we gained during the retreat. Thank you for your valuable guidance.
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I wasn’t necessarily looking forward to the retreat, I have been quite resistant to them before (imposter syndrome can rear its head with these things) but it was genuinely wonderful and I hope as many members get a chance to participate and possible.
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I think writing in the supportive space and having the guidance provided by Laura was really beneficial to each of the team and with Laura’s support, we created an honest environment where we would openly talk about our work.
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I want to say that I valued the experience tremendously. Since being part of the retreat I have been part of two other writing workshops provided by professional coaches and the difference between your approach and those others was significant. In terms of style, rapport and thoughtful application of knowledge, your process was as impactful and generative as theirs were frustrating and alienating.
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Laura really facilitated the development of a supportive space for our writing collaborations – her input really helped us to be open about the challenges and approaches to writing, and really helped us develop our culture of writing (language, rules, ways of being/doing). This can not be over-estimated, as it is sometimes easy to assume we have a clear and shared understanding of the tasks, when this is not so! Thank you Laura for the care and wisdom you brought to us.
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Thanks so much again for delivering a wonderful workshop. I could see that colleagues were getting a lot out of it. You created a different space/mood/feeling that enabled us to express ourselves in new and interesting ways. The two hours flew past. I found it all really helpful.
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It makes a HUGE difference to have a facilitator whose clearly well informed about writing, coaching and academia and also isn’t a colleague who you can tell is overworked. I also hadn’t been in an academic writing group that shared pieces through a quick verbal delivery and commentary – which is common in creative writing groups/courses. This amazed me by how effectively I could respond to comments on the piece I shared, I honestly have never had such specific, safe feeling, responses on academic writing.
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I thought Laura did a BRILLIANT job of building community in a virtual environment.
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This is just to thank you so much for all your wisdom, insights & resources – you led the session so well ( I think we all felt in safe hands!) & personally speaking it was easy to immerse and to ask myself those challenging questions around work/study rhythms and how I might operate to the optimum. You have a great knack, if I may say, of creating a sense of spaciousness – no mean feat for an online event!
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The space was held really well, everyone who was sharing was supported, and those being shared to were given clear guidance about how to proceed.
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The 1-2-1 was incredible, I loved meeting other colleagues but the 1-2-1 saved me from wheels that had been spinning for a few weeks on my own and immediately sorted out my problem and got me moving ahead on writing.
References available upon request.