The Quiet Heart
Hello and thank you for being here! I’m Gemma and I’m a qualified Executive Coach, Mental Health and Wellbeing specialist, Peri and Menopause Coach, Chinese Medicine practitioner and Acupuncturist, Yoga, Qi Gong and Meditation teacher. My work is is nature based and grounded in exploring the connection between our sense of self and the landscape in which we inhabit. This work is for everyone, all ages and backgrounds are welcome and through 1:1 sessions, workshops, classes, and retreats we work together to enable you to feel empowered and supported through the challenges and seasons of life.
Community, connection and compassion, are the values that form the foundation of my work and I believe in experiencing all individuals as unique, while honouring their personal story. I believe that we should all have access to tools which can foster a sense of compassion and empathy, both for ourselves and our community.
My Work, Working with Me and How I work
In my private practice in Bristol, I use all aspects of Chinese Medicine to support you. Using my counselling skills to create a safe environment, we use a combination of acupuncture, moxa and cupping, along with lifestyle suggestions to support a rounded approach to your wellbeing.
I create, and deliver training and workshops in businesses, schools, universities and charities. Workshops are created to support wellbeing on a wide range of topics, from managing mental health and wellbeing, peri/menopause awareness, Yoga and Qi Gong, acupressure workshops, sound baths, meditation sessions and sessions to open and close retreats or training days. I work with all age groups (from early primary to adult), and across a broad range of audiences and demographic. Feedback from past clients and patients is that I can easily engage a wide range of people with my relational, and warm approach.
I currently run a monthly Seasonal Gathering event in Bristol which is has been a huge success in the local community. These are accessible sessions where we gather in community, to reflect on the season of the landscape around us, and how that reflects in our internal landscape. I guide folk through seasonally based gentle Yoga and Qi Gong, self acupressure, meditation and a sound bath, to enable people to feel a sense of rest and restoration. I love these sessions and am thrilled with their popularity.
I believe we/you know our/your bodies best, so my approach is invitational, and there are always choices and options in my clinic, and in all the sessions I create. Language is important and I avoid using a narrative where I am positioned as the ‘expert’, I feel strongly that the tools I work with are shared with minimum barriers in terms of cost or accessibility.
Who I Work With – past and present…
Currently and alongside my private clinic, I work with Bath Mind to deliver mental health and wellbeing workshops to local charities, corporate clients, for both Universities in Bath and Bristol University. I am also an associate with Over The Bloody Moon where I work with Lesley and her team to deliver award winning menopause training and experiences in the corporate sector with the aim of creating allyship and awareness.
At Retreats and corporate events I create and deliver workshops and talks on accessible ways to manage our life and stress, meditation, sound baths, forest bathing, yoga and qi gong and acupressure sessions, for both children and adults. I regularly provide theses sessions for Fforest Camp at their Glow Women’s retreats and Gather family retreats, Vivo Barefoot, The Self Love Retreats for Women with Karen Marie Johnston and Nature and Nourish in the Meadow day retreats at Albion Nights.
In the past I have had the pleasure of working with Ange at Elemental Health for 6 years to work in schools and colleges in Wales, providing lessons in PHSE classes for mental health and wellbeing, as well as a collaboration with YEPS Wales to support young people with anxiety and school avoidance.
I’ve spent time volunteering for a local Bristol Charity called Off the Record where I ran mindfulness and wellbeing sessions in a local hospital ward for young people and I also spent one year running after school Yoga classes for a local primary to support a fundraising project for new playground equipment.
I’ve written and recorded mediations for Calm Moment Magazine, The Positive Birth Company, and Made for Mums Sleepy Time Podcast and I also appeared regularly on BBC Radio Nottingham on a slot called Health Matters where I chatted to the host about wellbeing and health to thousands of listeners. I’ve also been featured in the Nottingham Evening Post and The Bristol Magazine.
Training and Qualifications
I have over 25 years’ experience working in the Corporate, Charitable and Educational sectors, as a Business and Human Reources Manager, leading large teams, working 1:1, and coaching and training all over the UK. I have further training and qualifications in Counselling, Leadership Development, Trauma Informed processes, Psychometric Testing, Somatic Movement, the nervous system, menstrual cycles, fertility, pregnancy and postpartum care, and the transition of peri and menopause.
First class degree in Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture (BSC Lincoln University)
Quintax Psychometric training with Stuart Robertson and Associates
Executive Coach training with Kate Buller Executive Coaching
Leadership Development Training with Mark Robb
Foundation in Counselling (Level 3) with Heartwood Centre for Psychotherapy and Counselling
Confidence in the Menopause Education Programme: Newson Health & Fourteen Fish
Becoming a Trauma Informed Practitioner: Victim Focus
Embodying the Nervous System with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen
Releasing Patterns of Stress and Uncovering Patterns of Ease with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen
Diploma in Meditation Teaching: British School of Meditation.
Post-graduate training for for male and reproductive health with Zita West
Post-graduate training on gynaecology and reproductive health with Jani White
Facial Rejuvenation, Korean Hand therapy, and Menopause in Chinese Medicine with Jong Baik.
Member of the Bristol Acupuncture in Conception and Childbirth Team
Accredited Mindfulness teacher: The British Mindfulness Association
Qualified Yoga Teacher (Yoga Alliance 200 hours): Camyoga
Foundation in Sound Healing with Ali Young
Qualified Youth Mental Health First Aider.
Qi Gong teacher training with Aihan Kuhn