Emily Whalley, BACP

Emily Whalley is a counsellor who uses attachment-based and client-centred ideas to help people find steadier ground. She holds BACP accreditation and has spent three years working in therapeutic settings and online. Emily supports people facing anxiety, depression, grief and the disorienting changes that come with midlife.

Her approach is direct and compassionate. Sessions focus on understanding how early relationships shape current patterns. Emily helps people spot repeating behaviours like people-pleasing, avoidance or codependency and practise different ways of relating to themselves and others. Practical tools such as mindfulness and reflective exercises are used alongside deeper exploration of meaning and identity.

Emily has worked with clients around the world, including expatriates and people who move frequently for work. That experience feeds into her sensitivity to uprooting, loss and cultural transition. She also has experience supporting those who have experienced childhood and relational trauma, including survivors of sexual abuse.

In conversation she aims to make things simple and clear. People can expect relaxed, steady sessions that balance present-day coping with looking at underlying patterns. The work often covers stress, intimacy-related issues, self-esteem, addictions and career-related concerns.

Emily asks people to move at their own pace. If you want help working through attachment difficulties, abandonment worries, or the sense of emptiness that sometimes appears in midlife, she offers a questioning, supportive space to do that work.

How her approaches translate to online therapy

Emily commonly draws on attachment-based work and mindfulness in her practice. Attachment-based work looks at how early relationships shape current ways of connecting, helping people understand patterns like avoidance or clinginess. Mindfulness involves simple practices to calm the body and notice thoughts, and it can help with anxiety, stress and managing difficult emotions.

Finding the right approach is part of the process. She treats this as a collaboration, using initial sessions to understand needs, goals and preferences. Together they decide whether to emphasise relational work, reflective meaning-making, or practical mindfulness skills.

If you are considering online sessions, check the available session formats before booking so you know what to expect. The practical benefits of online work include fitting therapy into a busy week, meeting from different locations if you travel, and making shorter check-ins easier to arrange. Discussing how you prefer to meet and what fits your routine is part of the first conversations with the therapist.