Gemma Burns
Member Status: Accredited Professional
Member No: NCS17-05616
Location: Plymouth
As a Humanistic Integrative Counsellor and Supervisor, I can be flexible in the way we approach our sessions. We can use Person Centred (talking therapy), CBT, sandplay or other creative ideas in our work together. Whatever suits your personality/needs.
Throughout the past twenty-four years as a teacher, Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo), Counsellor and Pyschotherapist, I have recognised the importance for every human being (no matter what their age) of having a ‘voice’. That we all seek to feel safe, to be noticed and validated as ourselves, to be enough just as we are, without being ‘perfect’ (whatever that is).
I believe that all of us are truly special. Some of us can feel it, know it and are reminded of it by people around us. Unfortunately, there are times when your uniqueness might have been (or is still being) ignored, squashed down, stifled or hidden, by yourself or others. Or that circumstances in your life feel too overwhelming and unmanageable.
I feel that through the relationship of therapist and client, we can work to notice or re-notice yourself. We might also find new ways of learning to cope with the pressures of life, or re-find old ways of supporting yourself that you have forgotten.
Key areas of experience: For the past 20 years I have worked in a multi-agency way, supporting children and young people with special needs, including emotional and behavioural difficulties and the parents of these children/young people. I have counselled families where there has been a diagnosis of autism and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) for parent or child. I also work often with neurodiverse adults/adults with neurodiversity. At times we work as therapist-client, and, at other times, we work within a 'coaching' framework. In this way of working, we try to find workable strategies to feel more authentic and comfortable within the world.
I have also worked with adults and children who have depression and anxiety and with bereavement and loss and have had lots of experience counselling professionals within the education sector. I have recently qualified as a Professional Integrative Supervisor. Outside of my private practice I am a Clinical Supervisor for staff within an organisation commissioned by the NHS.
The Counselling Space: Currently I work face-to-face or online.
