When Jemma first came into my life, she was just three years old.

She was one of my key children at a private nursery, and it quickly became obvious that she was selectively mute. She wouldn’t talk to me, the other staff, or even the other children. But she could speak, she just chose not to.

That’s when I made it my mission to help her find her voice.

From Silence to Connection

Each day, I greeted her with the same warmth and lighthearted questions, even though I knew she wouldn’t answer.

Instead of putting pressure on her, I’d make wrong guesses and watch her face frown with frustration. She knew the answers. I knew she knew. But we played this game until one day, sitting in the book corner while the others had tea, I was rambling about how my mum bought the wrong beans with sausages in them.

And out of nowhere, Jemma blurted out: “My mum shops at Tesco’s.”

The silence had broken. And in that moment, I knew I’d done something important.

“Sometimes the most powerful breakthroughs come from the gentlest forms of persistence.”

The Unexpected Reunion

Fast forward 25 years.

I received an enquiry for therapy, and saw a name I could never forget.

It was Jemma.

But she wasn’t coming to see me for mutism this time. She’d been through something else. Something far worse.

Jemma has a rare birthmark condition, one that, unbeknownst to her, made her vulnerable to a dangerous blood clotting disorder. When she caught COVID during the pandemic, she collapsed. Within hours, she was in ICU, unconscious and fighting for her life.

She could hear the doctors discussing how little time she had left.

She wasn’t supposed to survive.

But Jemma, the stubborn, silent, strong little girl, refused to die.

It turns out, the same determination that kept her silent is the same force that saved her life.

How the Past Shapes the Present

Now, she’s working with me again, not as a child struggling with mutism, but as an adult working through trauma.

The recovery, the diagnosis, the ICU experience, the fear… it all left scars that no one else could see. She came to me because she remembered I never gave up on her. That I sat beside her every day. That I made her feel like she mattered.

To hear that, from someone I hadn’t seen since they were three, it was beyond humbling.

And it reminded me why I chose this niche. Why selective mutism became more than a topic of interest, it became my mission.

This Is What a Children’s Coaching Franchise Can Give You

If you’re part of our NLP4Kids coaching franchise, or thinking about joining, know this:

This work goes beyond techniques and sessions. It’s about planting seeds that might not grow for years. But when they do, they bloom into something breathtaking.

Children you work with now might grow up and remember you as the one person who made them feel safe, seen, and heard.

And you never know when they’ll return, not as a client, but as a testament to how powerful your work really was.

by Gemma Bailey (with the help of Ai)

Becoming a Licensee