Petina Walker , BACP

Petina Walker is a counsellor with 17 years of experience based in the United Kingdom. She is a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). Petina works with people facing addiction, anxiety, stress and relationship difficulties, and she has a particular interest in co-dependency and the link between stress, trauma and addictive behaviours.

Her approach is practical and client-led. Sessions focus on what the person brings that day and on small, achievable steps. Petina listens carefully and helps clients make sense of their feelings, behaviour patterns and the choices available to them.

Petina draws on attachment-based ideas to look at how early connections affect current relationships. She also uses client-centred and emotionally-focused ways of working to build understanding around intense feelings. Mindfulness practices and motivational interview techniques are used to support change and improve coping skills.

Before developing her private practice she spent many years working in drugs and alcohol services, running groups, doing assessments and providing one-to-one online support. She previously ran a wellbeing centre in Exeter and has long experience helping people through grief, health crises, major life changes and trauma.

Sessions are tailored to the person in front of her, with flexible tools chosen to meet current needs. Petina aims to create a calm, holding space where people can talk honestly about difficult topics and begin to find clearer ways forward.

How attachment and emotion-focused methods work online

Attachment-based work looks at how early relationships shape current connections and reactions. Online sessions can use conversation and reflection to identify old patterns that affect trust, intimacy and communication in present-day relationships.

Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) helps people recognise and name strong feelings and to change unhelpful interaction cycles. In remote sessions this often means slowing down the moment-to-moment experience so emotions can be noticed and worked with constructively.

Client-centred practice places the person's experience at the centre of therapy, with the counsellor offering empathetic listening and gentle guidance. This approach suits many issues including grief, anxiety, self-esteem and life transitions.

Finding the right approach is part of the work and will be decided together. The therapist will discuss goals, preferences and what feels most helpful, and then adapt methods as progress is made.

Online formats offer practical flexibility. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation when visual cues help. Phone sessions need less bandwidth and can be easier to fit into a lunch break. Live chat and text-based messaging suit quick check-ins, brief reflections or when writing feels easier than speaking. These options make it simpler to maintain continuity of support across different situations.