Hello

I’m Gemma Cousins ACC, Confidence Coach and founder of Core Coaching.

I help people uncover a kind of confidence that feels natural, grounded and genuinely comfortable, the kind that supports you in real life, not just in moments when you “put on a brave face.”

With over 20 years’ experience as a professional actor and facilitator, I use simple practical tools, gentle mindset shifts and embodied techniques to help you understand yourself better, trust yourself more and feel steadier in the moments that matter.

My coaching is calm, down to earth and completely centred on you. I offer a safe, supportive space to explore who you are and what you need.

Whether you want to speak up more, set clearer boundaries, feel less stuck or simply feel more like yourself again, you’re in the right place.

Confidence isn’t something you have to build from scratch, it’s something we uncover together.

My mission is to harness, ignite and elevate an individual's self-confidence, so that they have the best opportunity to reach their potential.

Gemma

1:1 COACHING

Support for anyone who wants to feel more confident in everyday life.

Whether you’re doubting yourself, struggling to speak up, feeling stuck or simply wanting to feel more at ease, 1-1 coaching gives you space to understand yourself, practice new skills and move forward with more clarity and self-trust.

Gentle, practical and entirely centred on you.

Find Out More

TEEN COACHING

A calm, encouraging space for young people to explore confidence, resilience and self-belief.

1-1 sessions help teens understand their emotions, communicate clearly, manage stress and feel more sure of themselves at school, at home and socially.

Practical tools. Real conversations. Support that strengthens them for life.

Find Out More

WELLBEING WORKSHOPS

Engaging, practical workshops designed to help teams, students, staff and communities feel more confident, resilient and connected.

Blending coaching tools and actor-derived techniques, these sessions improve communication, collaboration, wellbeing and self-awareness.

Ideal for workplaces, leadership groups, educational settings, youth programmes and communities.

Find Out More

WHAT PEOPLE SAY

V. FOREMAN, Deputy Head
1-to-1 Client

The work that I have done with Gemma over this past year has impacted every area of my life and has given me a toolkit of strategies and perspectives for when trickier times come round again.

S. PERRING
Workshop Participant

Gemma holds the space brilliantly, allows for expression but keeps the day moving so it feels organic, which shows me the excellence of her planning, and ability to adapt depending on the partiipants.

S.SMITH, Chartered Accountant
Corporate Workshop Sponsor

We asked Gemma to deliver The Communication Workshop, to build self-confidence and effective communication skills within our team. Gemma is such a positive and engaging person and the team got a lot out of the day.

My work with young people goes back a long way.

Before coaching, I ran youth theatres, founded a CIC theatre school in Manchester, taught LAMDA and worked in schools as a facilitator alongside my acting career. Yes, those young people were getting cracking performance training but underneath it was always about confidence, self-belief and learning to step into situations that felt unfamiliar or uncomfortable.

Those early years taught me so much about how confidence actually develops. It grows when young people feel safe enough to try, supported enough to fail and encouraged enough to keep going.

That experience shapes how I work with teenagers now. In coaching, we focus on emotional regulation, self-trust and building the skills to respond rather than react when things feel intense. These are tools young people can carry into friendships, school, family life and beyond.

If you’re a parent wondering whether coaching could support your teen, you’re very welcome to get in touch and ask questions.

DM me to explore teen confidence coaching.

#teenconfidence #youthcoaching #parentingteens #emotionalregulation #confidencecoaching #selftrust #supportingyoungpeople #lifecoachinguk #manchestercoaching

In the words of Heather Small 🎤”What have you done today to make you feeeeel proud?”🎶

And yes, I know, it’s Monday and sometimes just getting out of bed and locating your keys feels like a mega achievement. (That counts too by the way.)

It doesn’t have to be anything big or life-changing. It might be that you went for a walk, drank an extra glass of water, sent the message you were putting off, said no when you normally say yes or just gave yourself five quiet minutes before the day ran away with you.

It’s usually the small, ordinary stuff that adds up, isn’t it?

So if you fancy sharing at the end of your day, let me know one small thing you’ve done that you’re proud of. And remember, tiny wins FULLY count!

#mondaymotivation #comfortableconfidence #selftrust #smallwins #confidencejourney #coachingforhumans #lifecoachinguk #teenconfidence #personaldevelopment #slowliving

Sundays can be kind to us and they can also be bloody annoying!

When the pace drops, worries and what-ifs often step in, waving at you with an inane smile. It’s not that something new has gone wrong, it’s just that there’s more space to hear the mind doing what it does…being bloody annoying!

These two questions are ones I come back to again and again, personally and in coaching:

📚What are the facts and what are the stories?
🎛️What do I have control over and what do I need to relinquish?

These questions don’t make everything disappear (soz), but they do create enough space to breathe and choose how you want to respond rather than staying stuck in the spiral 🌀.

This kind of awareness and self-trust is at the heart of comfortable confidence and it’s exactly what we work on in my upcoming workshop.

If you’d like to join us, DM me CONFIDENCE and I’ll send you the details.

#comfortableconfidence #overthinking #selftrust #confidencecoaching #emotionalwellbeing #mindsetandmeaning #coachingforhumans #lifecoachinguk #sundayreflection

If you spend a lot of time overthinking, second-guessing yourself or feeling overwhelmed, you are not alone.

Many confidence struggles show up quietly in our thoughts and bodies, shaping how we move through the day and what feels possible.

Comfortable Confidence is for anyone who wants to feel steadier, calmer and more trusting in themselves. This workshop is for those who want to feel more at ease in who they already are; not who they think they should be.

This workshop takes a whole-person approach to confidence, working with mind and body so change feels grounded and sustainable rather than forced.

You will also receive a take-home workbook to support your reflection afterwards and 50% off a 1:1 coaching session if you would like to explore things more deeply with me.

If this feels like something you need right now, I would love to see you there.

More info is in the slides and you can book via the link in my bio.

Gemma 🤍

#comfortableconfidence #confidencecoaching #selftrust #emotionalwellbeing #nervoussystemregulation #personalgrowthjourney #wellbeingworkshop #corecoaching #stockportwellbeing #cheshirewellness #cheadlehulmecoach #manchestercoach #stockportcoach #confidencecoach #confidencecoaching

We’ve all heard the phrase “your own worst enemy” and most of us know exactly what that feels like.

pressure, self-correction, a running commentary that keeps telling you to do better, be better, try harder.

But confidence doesn’t grow in an inner environment that feels hostile or constantly evaluated. It grows when the relationship you have with yourself becomes safer and more supportive.

Becoming your own best friend isn’t about avoiding growth or letting yourself off the hook. It’s about learning how to support yourself through challenge rather than pushing yourself through it.

This is a big part of my 1-1 coaching work with adults and teenagers. When the inner relationship softens, resilience strengthens, choices become clearer and confidence starts to feel more natural in everyday life.

If you’re tired of feeling like you’re battling yourself, there is another way to relate to you.

DM me if you’d like to explore 1-1 confidence coaching.

#selftrust #innerrelationship #confidencecoaching #emotionalresilience #selfleadership #personaldevelopment #growthwithoutpressure #coachingforhumans #teenconfidence #lifecoachinguk

A small check-in for the (nearly) end of the week.

By Thursday, most of us have slipped into whatever roles the week has asked of us. Professional. Capable. Fine. Keeping things moving. Sometimes those roles fit but sometimes they’re covering something that you haven’t had chance to think about.

Today’s journal prompt is:

“The person I pretend to be sometimes is … because…”

Remember, write without editing and allow the answer to be messy or surprising or weird. You don’t need to make sense of it yet.

This question can reveal where you’re adapting, protecting yourself or trying to keep things smooth for other people.

And be kind to yourself, often these ways of being started as really sensible strategies to help us cope, belong or stay safe at some point in our lives.

Journaling is amazing. It’s free, it’s accessible and it gives you insight into what’s happening beneath the surface. It helps your subconscious speak in a way you can actually hear.

Coaching is what comes next.

Once you can see what your inner world is asking for, the next question becomes: can you meet it? Can you respond to what you’ve noticed with choices that support you rather than just understanding it and carrying on as before?

That’s the work I do in 1-1 coaching with adults and teenagers. Turning insight into change and helping people build confidence through the way they live, not just the way they think.

If this kind of reflection feels useful, I’ll be sharing a different prompt here every Thursday.

And if you’d like support moving from awareness into action, you’re very welcome to get in touch.

#journalingpractice #selfawareness #confidencejourney #selftrust #innerwork #personaldevelopment #emotionalintelligence #respondnotreact #confidencecoaching #coachingforhumans #lifecoachinguk

.pro-gallery-wix-wrapper {display: block !important;} .pro-gallery-wix-wrapper .gallery-item-container {opacity: 1 !important; display: block !important;}