Jacki Short has been practicing counselling for over 25 years in a diverse range of settings. She is joined in this presentation by an award winning theatre director who has developed a program for individuals with autism. Kelly Hunter, MBEKelly is the Artistic Director of Flute Theatre, for whom she has created Hamlet, Twelfth Night, and The Tempest, for children with autism, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, for young people with autism and their families and Pericles, for people with autism. Flute’s productions tour internationally and Kelly travels with the shows, additionally giving lectures and seminars about her pioneering work. She is the creator of The Hunter Heartbeat Method, a series of sensory drama games for young people with autism and their families. This methodology was the basis of a longitudinal study at Ohio State University 2011-2015 and is currently being researched by Professor Antonia Hamilton at the neuroscience lab at University College London.Kelly is an award-winning actor and the author of two books, Shakespeare’s Heartbeat: Drama games for children with autism, and Cracking Shakespeare: A hands-on guide for actors and directors. She was awarded the MBE for her services to theatre in Summer 2019.