Gemma Burns
Member Status: Accredited
Member No: NCS17-05616
Location: Plymouth
I am a Humanistic Integrative Counsellor - this means 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 eighteen years as a teacher, Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo) and as a counsellor, 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 counsellor 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 seven 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 have also worked with adults and children who have depression and anxiety and with bereavement and loss.
The counselling space: I work from various rooms in Plymouth Natural Health and Healing Centre.