Philosophy and Approach

A grounded and integrative practice

HEARTH Therapy Studios is the professional home of Sam Gummer, a master-level creative arts psychotherapist and learning and behaviour specialist teacher. Sam brings over thirty years of experience supporting children, young people, adults, and families across educational, community, mental health, and specialist settings, including youth justice and complex care environments.

Core values underpinning HEARTH

Identity
Honouring each person’s lived experience, culture, history, and sense of self, recognising identity as central to wellbeing, meaning, and belonging.
Creativity
Valuing creative expression as a meaningful and accessible way of exploring, understanding, and communicating experience beyond words.
Embodied experience
Recognising that experiences are held in the body, sensations, images, relationships, and environments, not only through language.
Relationship and attunement
Working with care, responsiveness, and respect for pace, understanding that safety and trust are essential to meaningful therapeutic work.
Safety and ethical care
Holding clear boundaries, ethical practice, and emotional safety as the foundation for all therapeutic, educational, and supervisory work.
Personalised, identity-first engagement
Honouring each person’s unique identity, lived experience, and ways of making sense of the world, while listening deeply and responding with care, thoughtfulness, and respect.

These values shape how spaces are held, how relationships are nurtured, and how creative processes are supported.

At HEARTH, safety, respect, and connection create the conditions for meaningful therapeutic work.

An integrative way of working

At the heart of HEARTH is an integrative framework that brings together creative, reflective, and evidence-based practices. This approach supports self-expression, personal insight, and development across therapeutic, educational, cultural, and community contexts.

Creative and embodied modalities

Creative forms of expression, including art-making, movement, and sensory exploration, are used alongside relational reflection. This allows experiences to emerge in their own time and in ways that feel respectful and contained.

This form of psychotherapy is particularly important for experiences that may be difficult to name, discuss, or hold in words alone.

Areas of practice

HEARTH Therapy Studios works across interconnected areas through a holistic, multi-pathway framework. This includes:

Creative and trauma-responsive therapies, including clinic-based paediatric art psychotherapy delivered through Barefoot Therapists

Therapeutic work with late adolescents and adults within approved professional and service contexts
Integrated therapeutic approaches, including EMDR and Interactive Drawing Therapy (IDT).
School-based practice through the ARC Initiative
Clinical supervision and reflective practice

These areas of work inform and strengthen one another, supporting thoughtful and responsive practice.

A commitment to the whole person

Across all areas of HEARTH, there is a strong commitment to recognising and honouring the whole person. People are supported to engage with their experiences in ways that feel meaningful, supported, and true to who they are. This work is guided by care, curiosity, and respect for each person’s unique experience.