Gemma Krier Mead

Welcome to my Therapy page. I'm a qualified Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist, Mindfulness Practitioner Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and I'm also a registered Mental Health Nurse. I am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy MBACP Reg and licenced for practice with the NMC Nursing, Midwifery Council . About Me I believe that everyone, with the right kind of support, has the potential to overcome and master their emotional difficulties or mental health problems. For me this is important, having this hope for a person to live a happier and meaningful life, especially so when a person feels that they have lost hope and confidence. My professional journey began over 20 years ago in acute in-patient hospitals supporting people with mental health and drug/alcohol problems, then moving to the NHS working in the community as a senior clinician in mental health teams, providing individual psychological interventions, group therapy and workshops. I spent many years as a Professional Lead and Senior Clinician, working in managerial and advisory roles alongside private therapy practice. I went on to practice as a CBT Therapist and Forensic Practitioner for the London Courts providing therapy for people, producing mental health assessments for Judges and writing pre-sentence reports. I have worked as a Senior Practitioner Trainer and Therapist within the NHS and voluntary sector, designing and teaching CBT to support people and their loved ones overcome a range of mental health conditions. Alongside my private practice as the founder of therapywithpromise.com, I also work in a London University supporting students with their mental health and people on the Autistic Spectrum and those with Asperger’s.Coupled with this I am a Consultant Trainer for doctors, mental health professionals and business on a range of CBT, Mindfulness and Recovery courses across the UK and Europe. How could I help you- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy helps you change the way that you feel, through making changes with how you think and your behaviour. Let’s give an example, if a person feels really down or anxious, it's not that their thinking is wrong or bad, but it's likely that the person experiences very critical, worrying or negative thoughts. This in turn affects the way that they feel and what they feel able to do. I would help you find ways of thinking about yourself differently, supporting you to develop more balanced thinking. We all see the world through our own eyes, based partly on our past experiences. If our beliefs about ourselves as a person are not so good, then this can darken our view of the world, like putting on a pair of dark glasses. But it doesn't have to be this way, as you can learn to develop more positive beliefs. Often our problems get stronger because of the things we do, or don't do perhaps. Making sense of this and trying out new things gives you the chance to make real changes in your life. CBT isn't a complicated kind of therapy and many people have found it so helpful for their recovery. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy has its roots in the far East, from ancient Buddhist practice; but you don't have to be a Buddhist or even have any beliefs to practice being Mindful. Mindfulness helps you to stay in the present moment and to accept yourself for who you are without criticism or judgment. Our minds can be filled with so much worry or anxious thinking or perhaps we feel stuck in the past, beating ourselves up with what could have been or what we should have done. You may find that you are really battling with your thoughts, or trying to push them away. In the end, this can make us feel much worse. It's as if our mind really does have a mind of its own. Before we know it, we can be left feeling so down, upset or angry, without truly understanding how we got to feel this way. Using a Cognitive Mindfulness approach you can learn ways to become mindful in your own life, from practicing different meditations and breath techniques, to learning more about the way that you think and feel. You will discover that you can slow your mind down and give yourself the chance to step aside from these loops of thinking. In doing so you give yourself the space to think about things differently and act differently too. Mindfulness can help not just emotional difficulties but also with physical problems too. What kinds of problems could I help you with- I can support people, young and older, to overcome and master a range of mental health difficulties and emotional problems including, depression, anxiety, phobias, social anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, worry and perfectionism, anger and aggression, schizophrenia and other psychoses, personality disorders, self-harm, relationship problems, low self-esteem, drug and alcohol and work or life stress.