My name is Gemma Mitchell, I am the practice owner and therapist at Platinum Psychotherapy. I have nearly 10 years experience, over this time I have developed specialisms in Adult ADHD, Autism, other neurodivergent issues, LGBTQIA+ issues, binge eating, bereavement, anxiety, depression.
I offer sessions face to face in Pontefract or online.
I am an integrative psychotherapist - this means I use multiple counselling approaches and techniques within my work, therefore I can work in a way that best suits each individual client rather than be fixed to one specific mode of therapy.
I qualified in 2017 and became Accredited by the BACP in 2019. Accredited is a quality standard for experienced practitioners and means I employ high standards of knowledge, experience and have a commitment to ongoing professional development.
I am also a qualified Clinical Supervisor offering supervision to other counsellors.
About me & my therapy practice
Special Interests
In my private practice, I have special interests in working with clients who struggle with their relationship with food, particularly binge eating and obesity, and also neurodivergent clients (including self diagnosis) as well as transgender and non-binary individuals.
Experience
I am an affiliate counsellor for multiple EAPs, offering short term solution focussed counselling for workplace clients.
I have extensive experience working with all forms of anxiety and low mood/depression, I believe this is something we can all experience at some point in our lives. My speciality is being able to sit with clients in the emotional pain they are experiencing and be alongside them whilst making sense of it together. I draw upon a range of techniques and methods to do this and always work at the pace the client feels most comfortable with. I have a strong drive to help clients work towards self understanding, self compassion and empowerment.
I have experience working in a women’s only centre providing time-limited IAPT therapy to women of all ages suffering from mental health issues, mainly complex trauma, sexual abuse, childhood sexual abuse, and domestic abuse. Also, a range of other problems such as anxiety, depression, stress, bereavement, eating disorders, addictions, chronic pain conditions, rape, anger management.
I also worked for the University of Leeds for 7 years as part of the Disability Services support worker team, as a Specialist Mentor for students with diagnosed mental health difficulties and other chronic conditions. The mentoring role allows a more developmental therapeutic relationship where there is collaboration and support tailored to a variety of aspects of a student’s life, to encourage and ultimately empower the student.
Qualifications & Training
Psychology (BSc Hons)
Post Graduate Diploma in Counselling & Psychotherapy
BACP Accredited
NHS Talking Therapies (IAPT) PCE-CfD Qualified
Diploma in Clinical Supervision
Continued Professional Development:
Integrating Coaching into therapeutic practice
Internal Family Systems
Exploring Libido
Narrative Exposure Therapy
Compassion Focused Therapy
Eating Disorders and Trauma
Working with Food Diaries in counselling for eating disorders
An introduction to the Polyvagal Theory and it's uses in therapy
Online counselling training
Adapting the PCE-CfD approach for Remote Working
Working with suicide
Annual Safeguarding training
Domestic abuse & "Freedom Programme"
ADHD training for professionals
Autism training for professionals
Transgender training for professionals
Mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR)
Client Testimonials
I received support from Gemma for my anxiety and depression and, over the course of my sessions with her, she helped me to understand the triggers for my anxiety and worked with me to plan for situations I found difficult. She helped me to develop strategies for upcoming events so that I knew I was prepared and often, knowing I had that strategy ready I was less anxious anyway. With her support I was able to travel abroad on my own, something I couldn't have done previously.
An aspect of my life that was neglected was self care, and Gemma really showed me that planning my life to incorporate different forms of self care alongside my other responsibilities made a huge difference to feeling balanced and able to cope. She helped me understand the physical signs of stress so I could work out when I needed to slow down, or when I needed to add more structure to my life to prevent depression. She is wonderfully easy to talk to and despite no longer having sessions I still repeat some of Gemma's phrases to myself and still use many of her strategies. I cannot recommend her highly enough, she made such a difference to my life and wellbeing.
Talking it through with Gemma helped me find a way forward with a deep fundamental lifelong issue that was causing me such difficulty. Gemma was just so brilliant in listening, understanding, reflecting and advising. It spurred me on to sort my shiny new life. Gemma to say I'm grateful is such an understatement.
★★★★★
★★★★★
I haven't ever had therapy before, so was unsure as to what to expect. Being able to talk to my counsellor as human being was really helpful, having them listen to me, even if I felt like I was rambling. Having goals to work towards and coping strategies each week really helped me to focus on helping myself get better.
