The Growth Mind Project CIC
If you are a parent, carer or professional especially but not exclusively supporting children with SEN & Neurodivergence we exist to support YOU!
We know you’re tired.
Exhausted.
Frustrated and support takes to long arrive. We know the mental and emotional toll it takes to be everyone and do everything. We see the pressure it takes to hold it all together and have to pretend that everything is okay whilst you’re barely holding on.
You’re not imagining it!
It really is this hard.
We are here to support.
Mission
To support parents, carers, and professionals with their mental and emotional well being whilst they are raising and working with SEN and neurodivergent children (but not exclusive to) through tools, strategies, training and spaces that feel human, not clinical.
We exist to ease the pressure, offer connection, and provide emotional and therapeutic support and education that works in real life before crisis hits.
Vision
We envision a future where families and professionals feel confident, supported, and understood. Where children grow up in homes and schools that see their strengths, not just their struggles.
Where emotional support isn’t a luxury or a last resort but a starting point.
We want to create a world where support is based on trust, not thresholds. Where lived experience and practical strategy work hand in hand. And where no one child or adult feels like they’re doing it alone.
Values
Lived Experience is Leadership
Prevention Over Crisis
Emotional Safety for All
Community Over Isolation
Progress, Not Perfection
Accessible Support for Every Brain & Body
The Growth Mind Project CIC Story
There was a little girl who struggled in school. At a younger age they said she tried really hard, she often got distracted, lacked concentration and day dreamed. She was called 'The Dreamer'. Then she grew up and went to high school where she struggled some more, she was labelled disruptive. Told she didn’t listen, lacked concentration, and it came out in her behaviour, not out of ignorance, but out of lack of understanding. Support was given, she had that one person who believed in her in school, that one person that made a difference, but one person wasn't and isn't enough, she needed everyone to understand. It's true what they say, it takes a village to raise a child. This little girl seemed like she didn't care to the the outside world, she was hard faced and naughty, she was seen as the problem.
But on the inside she was struggling with pain, shame, learning and feeling different because of it.
She wore a mask.
She left school with no GCSEs, a deep belief that she was not good enough, stupid even and then had years of mental health struggles ahead of her.
That little girl, was me.
After leaving school I started to find things I enjoyed doing and went back to college to pick up where I left off continuing my learning and development and later down the line I became a mum! I then started my career working with children and I stayed in that world for over 10 years. I worked in schools, early years settings, and additional needs support, following EHCP's and went on many trainings to learn about differences, I worked my way up to management in some roles and then started my first business, In that time, I saw first-hand how so many children fall through the cracks. Then I had a child with autism.
And nothing I had learned, read, heard came near to that lived experience.
In 2018 I closed my first business due to burnout working 50 hours a week and navigating my own daily struggles as a mum with ADHD and having children with differences took it's toll.
I have experienced the stress, burnout, lack of support and understanding and spent many time crying on the floor and in the car after the school run (if you know, you know)
I already trained at university in counselling with coaching and mentoring and have since learned how the nervous system works, how our beliefs are formed, and how emotional regulation is the missing piece in so many lives not just for kids, but for the adults raising and teaching them too.
And now… I’ve brought it all together. The lived experience. The professional knowledge. The tools that actually make a difference. And I’ve poured it into this
The Growth Mind Project CIC.
The project started because I have lived this experience from every angle and recently watched my sister lose her way because of the mental and emotional toll being a parent of a child with SEN has, whilst dealing with your own issues and having to navigate the system.
I've had countless conversations with parents who feel like they’re failing. With professionals who are trying their best but are completely burnt out. With those who are trying to make changes in the system (even though you may not see it) whilst getting the backlash and it not working. We’ve gathered data, evidence, real voices and have real stories.
And the message is clear!
The system is stretched and support is hard to access. People are hitting breaking point.
That’s why this project isn’t just a service it’s a mission.
We’re not against the system! We’re here to support it.
We understand the pressure schools and services are under. We are here to work alongside everyone involved in a child's life to make a difference.
The Growth Mind Project CIC was created to bring real emotional and practical support to those raising, caring for, and teaching neurodivergent and sensitive children. We don’t wait for crisis, we work in the gap where the pressure builds, where the system lags behind, where real people live and break and try again.
We don't want any child to feel like the problem, any parent to feel like they’re doing it wrong or don't have someone
And no professional to have to carry the weight alone.
This is our story. And if you’re reading this, it might be part of yours too.
We’re not here to tick boxes or do what’s always been done. We’re here to change things and support more.
Meet the Director
Hey, I'm Gemma Holden
I am the director of The Growth Mind Project CIC and we are building a community, range of support services that are easy to access and at a low cost to support you.
I myself have combined ADHD and children with different abilities.
I have a bunch of credentials that always help (even though I struggled in school, that didn't stop me hyper focusing on what I love)
Young Children's Learning development
FDA Counselling With Coaching & Mentoring
BA (Hons) Coaching & Mentoring
Clinical Hypnotherapy
EFT & NLP Practitioner
Business Strategist
Leadership & Management
Trauma Informed
Real, relatable human being.
Mini Course
Coming soon
Pending...
Mini Course
Coming soon
Pending...
Testimonials
I have used some of Gemma's tools inside one of her memberships and I am seeing some amazing results as a mum of 3 young children. I didn’t realise how much I needed something to help me regulate myself before showing up for my kids. I am talking about those epecially challenging moments of the day, like the school morning chaos, or when they come home from school tired, hungry, and everyone ends up overwhelmed!
Using the tools to regulate myself before those moments have made me show up calmer and therefore able to help my children with their own emotions.
It’s not always easy and it's not about being perfect but about doing my best and having something to support me. I can honestly say it’s helped me feel more connected and more calm.
Maria Magazuu
