About Matt
I’ve always felt compelled to encourage people to stay true to their natural interests and talents.
Life can sometimes steer us off path, from a young age. But there's valuable insight in the 'hobbies' and interests we naturally gravitated towards but left behind.
I'm a musician and artist with a degree in Psychology and a qualified ADHD coach - with AuDHD.
In 2002, I moved to London and found myself working in the Advertising industry. Creative strategy is a good career, but I could never comfortably navigate the office environment.
The creativity I could do. But the desk job - the processes, hierarchies, relationships, networking, routine, unspoken rules and expectations...
I could not.
(I was a fork in the soup)
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I blamed myself. Self-doubt, masking, rejection-sensitivity, anxiety, depression, addiction...
I made numerous efforts to leave, but in the end I suffered a serious burnout. I rehabilitated and I was diagnosed as AuDHD.
It took a while to rebuild. But when I did, my confidence and creative identity gradually returned.
For the 10 years following my diagnosis, I immersed myself in understanding neurodiversity, cognitive diversity, creative cognition and psychology. And I returned to the art and music that I'd be ignoring for years and started to build a different way of working.
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Burnout occurs when you work against your natural cognition for too long - without recovery.
Some of us are exploratory thinkers. Innovators, experimenters, creatives - we're wired for exploration, not routine.
But modern work rewards structure, process and predictability. Without insight and support, divergent thinkers often struggle in these environments.
Creativity comes alive in environments when no one has to mask to fit in. When people are free to work to their strengths - and everyone understands the value we all deliver - and how we each deliver it.
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The world of work is changing rapidly. A growing number of people are looking for more autonomy and fulfillment - I believe there is no better time to shape your own future.
Not by following established paths and conventional job titles, but by defining your own. By re-connecting with your natural strengths, recognising your natural gaps as collaboration potential, knowing your values, motivations and interests, and defining a role that only you can fill, delivered in a way that only you can.
With strategies and tactics for managing the demands of modern life and work - alongside an understanding of how your natural cognition works.
(this is where coaching comes in)
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I’m a qualified ND coach and I help people understand how their neurodivergent mind is their advantage - when it's understood and harnessed - not battled with.
I bring two decades of experience running creative and interactive workshops and talks. I've worked with and coached people with many different cognitive strengths, motivations, talents and ambitions. And I have a lifetime of lived neurodivergent experience as a creative Fork in the Soup
I believe that Some people are not meant to just 'fit in'.
Their curiosity and creativity exist to challenge conventional
paths. To do things differently from the majority.
