Make Your Mind Your Best Tool
My Story
My adversity started in my childhood, and the conversation around mental health was never healthy, informed or progressive. Snapshot: My biological mother suffered poor-ill mental health, and from an early age I learnt silence.
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Homelessness, abuse, academic struggles, low self-esteem as well as a lack of belonging, fuelled shame, guilt and fear.
Understanding Context and Inspiring Internal Change
Gemma is a proud auntie and a lover of life, embracing the adversities that come with it. Professionally, she supports individuals, teams and sectors to change the way they performance and their well-being. Using facilitation and mentorship, she breaks down achieving mental agility and safety, both in practices and outcomes, which is a fresh perspective on embracing safeguarding in your life and work. Her work is grounded in building connections. Personal Performance = Mental agility (the ability to adapt and adjust with accountability & resilience). What underpins this is emotional intelligence. She created MINDFUL BRAINSTM after fine-tuning and forging her own path in striving for mental agility herself.
From her childhood experiences, dysfunctional relationships became normal, and everything was covered with a smile. Work was where she thrived, but for many, around her, this was not the case. She watched people engage in drug use and other risky behaviours and when questioned, she was told everyone does it. She knew something needed to change, but everyone was doing the same thing, and for the most part, she felt like the odd one out. But everyone had one thing in common: pretending that everything was okay. Then one day.....
A student changed her life without him even knowing it. Working with him, she found a mirror of my life and language for many unexplained thoughts, feelings and reactions to various aspects of my life. At the time, she was working in education, holding DSL (Designated Safeguarding Lead) responsibilities, which allowed her to understand "the why" behind behaviours that are seen. As she grew her understanding of trauma, she understood herself more.
It was here that she was set on a therapeutic journey, learning about adverse experiences and the impact they have on the mind and body. Making sense of stress and trauma responses allowed her to make active choices to choose healthier choices, both personally and professionally.
With this newfound understanding, Gemma brings a combination of challenge and compassion to others, ensuring that individuals and sectors thrive. ​​​​
MISSION
For individuals to adopt agile practices to improve their lives both personally and professionally by managing life and industry pressures while avoiding harmful coping behaviours.
VALUES
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PERSON-CENTRED
Whether in mentorship or facilitation, a person-centred approach in understanding contextual experiences and aligning this to how we improve our lives both personally and professionally
QUALITY
Integrity and continuous development come before practice. Mutual trust is vital in relationship building and outcomes
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MENTAL AGILITY
Mental agility underpins outcomes. Building healthy foundations for well-being and meaningful connections in service delivery
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Credentials
CMI Level 7 Diploma in Leadership in Coaching and Mentoring
Level 5 Diploma in Psychology
Level 3 Diploma Counselling Skills
Level 2 Understanding Mental Health First Aid & Workplace Advocacy
Mental Health First Aid 2020/2022
All qualifications are Ofqual-regulated
WAVE Training - Welfare and Vulnerability Engagement
Neuroscience in Coaching
Trauma-Informed Coaching
Trauma-Informed Practice (Bronze, Silver & Gold Awards – Nicola Lester
Level 4 Behavioural Neuroscience
Level 4 Counselling: Anger Management
Mental Health First Aid
Mindfulness in Schools Project (MISP – b·e·g·i·n 12-week programme
Mindfulness Practitioner (Levels 1,2,3, - Achology Coaching Academy
CBT Practitioner (Levels 1,2,3 – Achology Coaching Academy
Safeguarding Level 3
All listed certifications are regulated by a CPD Certification Service
77058838
As a Member of the Association for Coaching (AC), I am professionally regulated and committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity, accountability, and ethical practice in line with the AC Global Code of Ethics.
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I've trained newly qualified teachers in behaviour management and de-escalation techniques, police officers in various areas to improve community relationships, retail staff in providing excellent customer service and facilitated changes in NHS sectors. One thing remains the same: it starts with the person in service. Excellence can be maintained; it needs agile individuals who adopt agile thinking and habits. My approach is to challenge you compassionately but challenge you nevertheless, because nothing changes when you're comfortable.
Sepsis, my biggest adversity
Her work history is varied, from education, social care, retail and hospitality. While her personal life was plagued with adversity. At work, she thrived building protocols and practices for safeguarding, pastoral care and mentoring. Achieving three 100% mystery shopper visits in two fields and a leader award for impact in education, here are Gemma's words for excellence. - My personal life was never an excuse for poor standards, but accountability and responsibility to give others the care, compassion or standards I would have liked was paramount. What I would say is that it is vital that we thrive both personally and professionally for full holistic excellence. Through personal performance, we enter a journey that will uncover some harsh truths but open beautiful connections and pathways.
After surgery - I woke up with a stoma and could hardly breathe.
On the 1st of November 2023, I woke up at home unable to walk but due to not making the threshold for an ambulance, I ended up with heavy sepsis infection from a perforated appendix that also perforated my bowel.
I didn't learn this until after surgery, also discovering I lost 30% of my lung capacity and gaining a stoma.
After 12 hours of surgery, and not being able to breathe my mindful habits kicked in.
​Mediation in very small bursts, switching off my thoughts to allow the brain the best chance to recover while under so much pressure and stress as I still was infected.
The recovery was hard for so many reasons but I was filled with so much gratitude because surgeons didn't think I would pull through.
The mental demand in recovery outweighed the physical and without the tools I had, I'm not
sure how I would have managed in my recovery and still having a positive mindset.
Having worked in social care for seven years, I was all too familiar with the battle I was about to face: the stigma, the pity, and the cultural shame. My aim of why I share any adversity is to show that having the personal responsibility to keep yourself mentally agile is a personal journey, but one that should not be underestimated.
I became a brand advocate for Salt's Healthcare, which was a decision close to my heart. I wanted to show others, in particular within the Caribbean community, that it's not your adversities that make you, it's how you respond to them. The time is now for better care, standards and practices. Let's work together if you want to improve things.
