John Launer is a doctor, educator and award-winning writer. With a dual professional background in general practice and family therapy, as well a degree in English literature, John’s interests range across health care, human systems and the humanities. They include narrative medicine, clinical supervision for the health professions and team development in the health service.
John has written and edited eleven books including ‘Narrative-Based Practice in Health and Social Care: Conversations Inviting Change” (Routledge 2018) and “How Not To Be A Doctor: And Other Essays” (Duckworth 2018). Further details are on the Main Publications page.
John has worked in the National Health Service in the UK continuously for over forty years. His current posts include honorary associate clinical professor of primary care at University College London, honorary lifetime consultant at the Tavistock Clinic, faculty member at the Foundation for Family Medicine in Palestine and at ISTUD Business School in Milan, and founding president of the Association of Narrative Practice in Healthcare. He was a visiting professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Trinity College Dublin during 2024 and is a visiting professor of the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Social Care at Anglia Ruskin University from 2024-2027.
John is a founder member of the International Association for Spielrein Studies and on its committee. His former posts include associate director for multiprofessional faculty development at Health Education England.
John was the originator, with Caroline Lindsey, of Conversations Inviting Change (CIC). This is a narrative-based model for interactional skills, used in encounters with patients, clients and families, as well as for individual and group supervision, mentoring, coaching, team facilitation and conflict resolution. John has given presentations and workshops on CIC in every region of the UK and in Europe, Israel, Palestine, Japan, the United States, Canada and Australia. Visits in 2024 included Ireland, Belgium, Italy and China, with online events including California, Japan and Singapore.
John is the longest serving medical columnist in the UK, starting with ‘Hospital Doctor’ in 1980 and continuing with ‘Doctor’ and ‘QJM.’ He wrote the ‘On reflection’ series every month in the Postgraduate Medical Journal from 2008 to 2022 and is now a fortnightly columnist for the British Medical Journal.
Contact John at johnlauner@aol.com
Follow him on Bluesky @johnlauner