Reiki, CBT, Couselling, holistic Therapy, all rolled into one with Gemma Bennett founder and owner of Hidden Gem Holistic Health & Happiness

Woman, Wife, Mum, Sister, Daughter, Friend, Reiki Master, Counsellor and Holistic Therapist.

I am Gemma Bennett, wife and a mother to a lovely and incredibly fun 2 year old boy.  I work within my own company Hidden Gem Holistic Health & Happiness as a counsellor and holistic therapist, specialising in emotional wellbeing and balance. I use various therapies such as CBT, EFT, Reiki and Bach flower remedies to assist in releasing emotional difficulties like anxiety, stress, depression, trauma or just a general feeling of loss of self. I am also a Reiki master and regularly teach Reiki courses.

Last year my friend Ella Dixon and I collaborated on a side project as ‘Soulful Hearts- modern day wellbeing’. We create and deliver wellness events of various kinds. Our signature one being our Women’s release and reenergise evenings, where we offer a nurturing and welcoming environment for women to come together and support each other, while we clear out and release and set about re energising and resetting ourselves, we use various healing techniques for this and we absolutely love being in the energy of women who are coming together to lift each other up. That is real GIRL POWER, We’re currently working on a day workshop together, Soulful Awakening. It’s all about self-discovery and freedom, again for women, we’ll be exploring core values, authenticity, judgement, creativity and expression and releasing and opening up our energy chakras to revitalise….. I’m so excited!

I found my way in therapies and wellbeing relatively young whilst on my own personal journey, I’d say Reiki found me really and the rest naturally evolved from there. I was working as a personal trainer at a gym at the time, surrounded by wonderful colleagues who opened my eyes to the power of the mind, it’s  effects on emotional health and a holistic way of living. It was here my journey of self-connection accelerated and my interest in people really sparked. I then divided my time at the gym between personal training and Reiki before undergoing further qualifications in counselling, EFT and naturopathy and setting up on my own as Hidden Gem Holistic Health& Happiness.

I’m driven by happiness and inspired by people . How cheesy is that! But seriously let me explain. It’s my belief we are naturally meant to feel good, that our natural state is one of inspiration, balance, self love and connection, but so many things can make this feeling seem fleeting. So many people are battling various emotional blocks that prevent this, I feel passionately that we can find our way to a happier state given the right tools and if I can facilitate a person’s journey to this in any way I’m driven to do so. I love people, I was always told off as a kid for talking to much and have a keen interested in acting which i think this is just my interest in connecting with other people and characters. I love our differences our uniqueness and I enjoy meeting all different souls, my clients are my inspiration.

Since becoming a mum the draw of having a sisterhood, a support network and a tribe of strong and supportive women around me has never been more pronounced. I feel so grateful for the women that supported and continue to support me as a mother and as a women in general that I want to reach out a support other women too. I want us to remember that nurture and connection is our truest nature and competing or criticizing one another is damaging and unnecessary. This is why I feel so motivated to create our women’s events through ‘Soulful Hearts’ as I really feel we are making a positive difference to each other when we unite. It’s not just about women through. I work with men at Hidden Gem and this too feels hugely important. It’s brave of anyone to become aware of their challenges and emotional unbalance and then to go further and ask for help, is so commendable. My aim is to facilitate an internal environment of emotional balance and peace within any person, working with them through their varying trials and equipping them with effective self-help tools that can ultimately aid them to get the most satisfaction out of their life.

I’d say In order to work in the way I do, I have to work on me first. it would be a mistake to assume therapists or counsellors don’t have their own stuff to work through, and continue to work through.  I feel vulnerability can be so scary but I’m rapidly learning for myself, it’s a hugely powerful key to self-acceptance and is actually be really free-ing, Within my world right now, I find my biggest challenge is time. Balancing mum and home life, making sure i have time for my relationships, my friendships, myself and the work I love to do. My mind floods with ideas and i want to do it all but I’m part time now, and if I eat into my mum time or me time that’ll not serve me either. So my challenge is 1. to balance my time effectively and 2. to park an idea for later if needs be. I find this really frustrating at times. When I’m inspired I want to run with the idea but it’ not always possible at that moment. This never sits well with me as I hate barriers, I like to bash them down, but I have to remind myself everything’s a choice, and I’m living the life I’ve chosen, and I love it. The ideas can be made into manifestations when it fits with my chosen picture.

My future plans include more events, workshops and courses and also I’m currently writing a self- help book or ‘guide’ for emotional balance in this modern world, based on my therapeutic experience. Slowly but surely I might add, I would love to write it quicker but its taking me so much longer than I first thought. I’m determined to continue though as its bursting to get out.. Once this is complete and published I actually have a number of children’s stories floating around in my head that i’d be excited to release. I’m interested in doing more public speaking engagements too. I do have to allow this all to happen at a steady pace though if i want to maintain my work and life balance.

One key bit of advice for emotional wellbeing that can be immensely overlooked is SELF CARE. The idea that anyone can run from an empty tank is ludicrous. Of course we can’t. It’s impossible.

Ultimately something is going to give, and that something will be us, our health, physically or mental/emotionally. I feel it’s considered a luxury to indulge in self care, but this view is flawed, it’s a necessity and the more people recognise this the more of a priority it’ll become.

Selfishness ultimately has a bad rep, there needs to be another word in between selfish and selfless, I call that word self-loving. Being self loving doesn’t make you unwilling to give to others as well, in fact it makes you more equipped to. Self loving doesn’t make you egotistical it helps your ego stay balanced, self loving breeds more love for all.

As you can tell, I’m a cheerleader for self care. You have to make it happen and saying you haven’t got time is a priorities issue not a time one. Busy lives require re jigging of priorities to make sure they include self-refuelling.

I think hobbies are great! Kids have loads of hobbies and things they do just for fun and as adults we unlearn this essential life skill. Well I do things I enjoyed as a kid. I dance and sing and get involved in productions. For example last Christmas I’m involved in a local improvised pantomime, it’s so much fun, super creative and really fills my tank. I love to move so I exercise regularly, I feel good when I’m using my body and so grateful that I can. I obviously don’t have time to do this stuff particularly the performance based things as often as I did when I was a child, but I make sure it’s crowbarred in enough to keep things sweet.

 Me time to re charge is important too, especially needed since juggling work and being a Mum, so I block out some time every 6 weeks that’s just for me, in this time I may have booked a treatment to enjoy, or I’ll mooch around shops, take myself for a coffee or lunch, read a book, but it’s me time.

I’m really strict with this marking it in my diary 6 weeks before, as it’s all too easy to prioritise something else or let the habit go, especially as a mum, but not once have I regretted self-charging like that, even if I could of been doing something else. I just see it as super important not just for how I feel but for me to be the best version I can be as a mum, wife, therapist etc. I created this 6 week system as a new year’s resolution in 2016 and have totally stuck to it. And hey, It makes me easy to buy for a Christmas too, as I just stock up on my treatment vouchers to use throughout my me time.

You can learn more about my one to one therapies on my website www.hiddengemholistic.co.uk, I also recorded a series of self help podcasts that can be found on https://happiness5aday.simplecast.fm/. For latest information on wellness events by ‘Soulful Hearts modern day wellbeing’ find us on facebook using @soulfulheartswellness . Ella and I regularly post items of food for thought,

inspiration or general ponderings on this page too.

Instagram

@gemhaubennett