In-person | Small group | Bespoke options available
This course offers a listening-led, experiential introduction to sound awareness and responsive sound playing in contexts where children and young people are present.
Images are used for illustrative purposes to reflect sound-aware environments. No therapeutic intervention is implied.
This one-day course offers a listening-led, experiential introduction to sound awareness in contexts where children and young people are present.
The focus is on how sound is perceived, how sound environments influence regulation and wellbeing, and how practitioners can work with greater sensitivity, pacing, and awareness when sound is present.
This course is offered as reflective professional development and does not provide clinical, therapeutic, or intervention-based training.
This course is suitable for professionals who already work with children and young people, including:
Early Years practitioners and facilitators
SEN teachers and support practitioners
Wellbeing practitioners working in child-centred settings
A separate version of this course is available by enquiry for those working with young people aged 12 and over.
An introduction to sound as a sensory and relational experience
Exploring how different qualities of sound (tone, rhythm, volume, texture) may be perceived
Understanding variability in sound experience, including context, environment, and individual sensitivity
Developing listening skills through sound, silence, and observation
Exploring foundational approaches to playing and using sound, guided by listening, awareness, and response.
Learning how to work with sound safely, with attention to pacing, volume, choice, and response
Exploring how sound may support settling, transition, and presence, without aiming to produce specific outcomes
Developing awareness of sound sensitivities and how to respond with care and restraint
Using sound for personal practice and practitioner self-care
Reflecting on when and when not to use sound, based on context and response
This course begins with a one-day, in-person workshop held in a small group setting.
The practical day focuses on:
Listening-led sound awareness
Exploring sound in relation to children, environment, and context
Foundational, responsive approaches to playing and using sound
Reflection, discussion, and shared observation
The emphasis is on sensitivity, pacing, and awareness, rather than on teaching interventions.
Following the practical workshop, participants are invited to attend a reflective integration session.
This session may take place:
Live online via Zoom, or
In person, where appropriate
The integration session offers space to:
Reflect on how learning has settled
Explore questions that arise after the workshop
Deepen understanding through shared reflection
Clarify scope, boundaries, and ethical considerations
This session is not an extension of content, but a supported opportunity to integrate learning through reflection and dialogue.
Scheduled courses are limited to 3 participants to support a calm, attentive, and supported learning environment.
Schools
Organisations
Teams
Individual and distance learning options may also be arranged by enquiry.
This course is offered as reflective professional development.
Participants are responsible for ensuring that any use of sound within their professional role aligns with their organisational policies, safeguarding frameworks, and scope of practice.
This course does not provide therapeutic or clinical certification.
Course Fee £397
or 2 monthly payments of £198.50
This course is intentionally limited in size to support depth, care, and attentive learning.
Participants receive a Certificate of Attendance for professional records. CPD hours (6 hours) may be confirmed by agreement where required by an employer or organisation.
Contact Tessa Ann for further information or to register your interest: tessa@tessaunltd.com
Participants will have the opportunity to explore a range of sound sources as tools for listening, awareness, and responsive playing.
Sound sources may include:
Singing bowls, Percussion, Gongs, Drums and Voice
Exploration focuses on how sound is produced, perceived, and responded to, with attention to pacing, volume, space, and individual sensitivity.
No prior musical experience is required.
A small selection of starter instruments may be available for purchase on the day.
The 1-day practical workshop is offered on selected dates throughout the year. You are welcome to attend one scheduled date or enquire about a bespoke option.
Launching Spring 2026!
Places are limited to 3 participants per date to support a calm, attentive learning environment.
The Sound Healing Spa
Comber (beside WWT Castle Espie)
Co. Down
BT23 6EA
Tessa Ann is a sound practitioner, sound artist, educator, and facilitator with three decades of experience working with sound, wellbeing, and sensory experience across diverse contexts.
She is the founder of TESSA UN Ltd and creator of The Sound Healing Spa, delivering listening-led practitioner education, reflective CPD, and sound-based wellbeing experiences. Her work centres on sound as a relational and embodied experience, supporting awareness, regulation, and connection rather than prescriptive outcomes.
Tessa has worked across individual, community, organisational, and public settings, including education, care, creative industries, and wellbeing tourism. Drawing on a background in sound and music, yoga, movement facilitation, and trauma-aware practice, she offers a calm, sensitive, and integrative teaching approach grounded in listening, observation, and ethical awareness.
I found this training extremely valuable and thought-provoking. It really highlighted the impact sound has on our everyday lives, and how differently sound can be experienced by each person — and each child.
The practical, experiential nature of the sessions helped deepen my understanding of this, particularly how mood, experience, and context can shape how sound is received on any given day. It encouraged me to observe my own responses to sound and reflect on how a child might experience the same sound differently.
I especially appreciated the opportunity to reflect on how sound is felt in the body and how it can influence mood and awareness. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the sessions and the shared reflections around bringing sound awareness thoughtfully into our early years settings. Tessa creates such a supportive and engaging learning environment, and I’m really looking forward to continuing this journey.
I loved the day’s training — it was unlike anything I had experienced before. The immersive sound experience, combined with shared reflection and discussion, really supported my understanding of how differently people respond to sound.
Listening together and noticing our individual responses helped me think more carefully about how those we support may experience sound, and how important it is to adapt our approach with sensitivity and choice.
It was great to explore a range of instruments in a hands-on but thoughtful way, and to reflect on how sound can influence mood, memory, and felt experience. The day was also incredibly supportive for my own wellbeing, and it was lovely to share the experience with colleagues. Tessa is an excellent facilitator and creates a calm, engaging space for learning and reflection.
Elements of this course align with CPD-certified learning from The Art & Practice of Listening and a foundational, listening-led playing module within the Level 1 Sound for Wellbeing programme. Where appropriate, CPD hours may be confirmed by agreement for professional records.
© Copyright Tessa Un Ltd 2026