A woman with shoulder-length brown hair and a black top sitting in front of a bookshelf filled with books. 
founder of verve

About Keena Cummins

Keena Cummins is a registered Speech and Language Therapist with over 30 years of experience helping children grow as confident communicators — and helping the adults around them discover the power they already hold.

Her work is built on a simple but profound belief:

that the most effective therapy doesn't happen in a clinic. It happens in the everyday moments between a child and the people who know and love them best.

WORK WITH KEENA

Keena’s Story

Over the course of a 30-year career, Keena has worked across a rich assortment of settings — from children's homes and community clinics to mainstream schools, specialist schools for Autistic children, and schools supporting children with mild to moderate learning differences. She has worked across both the statutory sector and the PVI (Private, Voluntary, and Independent) environment, giving her a broad, grounded understanding of the challenges faced by children, families, and professionals at every level.

A defining feature of Keena's approach has always been her commitment to working first and foremost with the parent and child, and then supporting that relationship through the other adults involved in each child's care — therapists, teachers, practitioners, and support staff.

Her career has included working with adults living with the effects of a stroke and adults experiencing mental health issues. For twelve years she managed an NHS inner London Early Years speech and language therapy service. She has contributed to service reviews, and continues to support and supervise NHS teams of therapists. She is currently an external university tutor at City St Georges University of London, and is a Consultant in continuing professional development and practitioner reflection. She regularly presents seminars and workshops on parent and adult/practitioner-child interaction.

It is from this wealth of diverse and direct experience — observing thousands of hours of interaction, and learning from what children, parents, therapists, and teachers have to say — that VERVE Child Interaction was born.

A proud mother of two, Keena brings not only clinical expertise but a deeply personal understanding of what it means to support a child's development from the inside out.

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Qualifications
& Professional Memberships

  • Registered Speech and Language Therapist

  • Member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT)

  • Member of the Association of Speech and Language Therapists in Independent Practice (ASLTIP)

  • Registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)

  • External University Tutor, City University London

  • Author of Why Mutual Face Watching Matters

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Work With Keena

Keena works with families, therapists, and education teams — always adapting to the specific child, family and context. Find out more about how she can support you:

  • Keena works directly with parents as research partners, using video to highlight and build on the instinctive skills you already have with your child. Sessions are time-limited, focused, and centred entirely on you and your child.

    Each session lasts one hour. The initial session fee is £120 with each subsequent session being £100.

    The fee for a written summary report is £150 following on from a course of therapy and can be provided on request.

    See more about how we work with families.

  • Keena offers courses and CPD for therapists who want to deepen their understanding of interaction and strengthen how they work with families. Sessions are available individually, in small groups, online or in person.

    See More Information on Courses

  • Keena offers courses and CPD for therapists who want to deepen their understanding of interaction and strengthen how they work with families. Sessions are available individually, in small groups, online or in person.

    See More Information on Courses

  • Keena offers VERVE child interaction courses within your setting for those who want to deepen their understanding of interaction and strengthen how they work with children with communication and learning differences one to one and within the classroom. Sessions are available individually, in small groups, online or in person, building confidence, identifying skills and developing consistent practice across and within year groups.

    See More Information on Courses

Want to work with Keena?

Whether you're just starting to explore VERVE or ready to get started, Keena would love to hear from you.

Get In Touch