Meet Gemma Gilewski – Experienced CBT Therapist in Swansea
Gemma Gilewski, BSc(Hons), MSc, PGCert, PGDipCBT, BABCP
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BScHons Psychology (University of Hertfordshire)
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MSc Forensic Mental Health (University of Birmingham)
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PGCert Evidenced Based Psychological Treatment (University of Reading)
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PGDip Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (Royal Holloway University London)
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BABCP Accredited by the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies
Hi, I’m Gemma.
I’m a BABCP-accredited Cognitive Behavioural Therapist with 17 years’ experience working in mental health. I work privately in Swansea with adults, children and young people experiencing difficulties including anxiety, depression, panic, OCD and trauma.
My career began in mental health services, including forensic secure settings, before I moved into NHS psychological therapies. It was here that I was introduced to CBT, and I knew very quickly that this was the area of psychology I wanted to pursue. I went on to train as a High Intensity CBT Therapist, and CBT has remained at the heart of my clinical career ever since, working across NHS psychological therapies, specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and private practice.
Over the years, I’ve worked with children, young people and adults at very different stages of life and in very different circumstances. I’ve also led work around the psychological impact of long-term physical health conditions, which gave me a particular understanding of how closely our physical and psychological health are connected.
As my experience in CBT grew, my role developed beyond delivering therapy. I went on to teach and supervise postgraduate CBT clinicians at Cardiff University and the University of South Wales, and have also supervised practising CBT therapists. I previously served on the committee of the South Wales branch of the BABCP and now sit on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Psychology and Behavioural Therapy.
All of these experiences have shaped the therapist I am today — but perhaps the most important thing they have taught me is that no two people, and no two difficulties, are quite the same.
Understanding comes before change
For me, CBT isn’t simply about applying techniques to a diagnosis or a list of symptoms.
Before we can change something, we need to understand it.
I’m interested in understanding the difficulties you are experiencing in the context of your life: where they may have begun, what has shaped them, what keeps them going and, importantly, why they make sense.
Our thoughts, emotions, behaviours and physical responses don’t appear from nowhere. They are influenced by what we have experienced and learned, our relationships and environment, and even by the way our brains have evolved to respond to threat, uncertainty and the world around us. It all comes from somewhere. In therapy, it is for us to make sense of what is happening together. Sometimes, understanding why your mind responds in a particular way can completely change how you see yourself. Instead of asking: “What is wrong with me?” we can begin to ask: “Why does my mind respond this way?” That is a very different question.
Understanding doesn’t mean spending therapy endlessly looking backwards. It means making sense of what is happening now — including what may have shaped it — so that together we can work out what needs to change. With adults, we may discover that something happening now has roots much further back. With children and young people, we may be looking at experiences as they are unfolding through family life, school, friendships, neurodevelopment and the wider world around them.
And understanding the whole picture also means recognising what is happening physically, not just psychologically. My experience working with people with long-term health conditions has given me a particular understanding of how closely the mind and body influence one another, and how physical health, psychological wellbeing and life circumstances can become intertwined. For me, therapy is about making sense of all of this in the context of the individual.
And there’s another part of choosing a therapist that matters too: the person you’re actually going to spend your time talking to.
The person behind the Therapist
There is, of course, a professional side to me. I take what I do seriously, I care about doing it well, and after 17 years I still find psychology genuinely fascinating. But I’m not a therapist 24 hours a day. Outside the therapy room, I’m just Gemma. I love spending time with my family, getting outside, walking and cycling, being by the sea or in the countryside, and enjoying good food. Having previously lived in London, I’m very happy to now have the beaches, mountains and countryside of Wales on my doorstep.
I’m naturally quite informal, too. I don’t believe therapy needs to feel stiff, clinical or full of complicated psychological language. Nor do I think therapy has to look exactly the same for everybody. I want you to feel comfortable talking to me, to be able to be yourself, and to feel that you can say things as they are.
That’s how I am as Gemma, and it’s how I am as a therapist.
Because when you choose a therapist, you’re not simply choosing a qualification or a list of letters after someone’s name. You’re choosing the person you are going to spend time with, trying to make sense of things that may feel difficult, confusing or hard to put into words. I think it matters that you have some sense of who that person is.
I’m genuinely curious about people: how our experiences shape us, why our minds learn to respond in particular ways, how those responses may once have helped or protected us, and what allows those patterns to change.
One of the most rewarding parts of my work is seeing someone begin to understand themselves differently — when something that previously felt confusing, frightening or like a personal failing starts to make sense. And we can work from there. You don’t need to have it all figured out before you get in touch. You don’t need to know exactly what is wrong, have the right words to explain it, or know what type of therapy you need. We can start with where you are.