Ms Emma Schubert

A conversation with Emma Schubert

• What led you to choose psychotherapy or counselling as a profession?

  My journey into psychology began with a powerful and meaningful experience of therapy as a teenager. Feeling truly understood and supported showed me how transformative therapy can be and inspired me to offer that same experience to others.
  
  My background as a dance and music teacher also shaped my love of helping people grow, build confidence, and learn in ways that feel engaging and empowering. I bring that same warmth and creativity into my therapy work.
  
  I am passionate about challenging the idea that therapy has to feel serious, scary, or sad. While meaningful work can include difficult moments, therapy can also be collaborative, light at times, full of laughter, and rich in small but deeply transformative moments.

• Which philosophical approaches have influenced your professional development?

  My work is shaped by a few core philosophical ideas. I am strongly influenced by humanistic and person centred approaches, which emphasise empathy, authenticity, and the belief that people have an innate capacity for growth when they feel safe, understood, and respected.
  
  I also draw on developmental and attachment informed perspectives, which focus on how early experiences, relationships, and nervous system patterns shape the way we cope, connect, and make sense of the world. A neuro affirming lens is central to my practice, recognising difference as diversity rather than deficit, and focusing on strengths, adaptation, and self understanding.
  
  More broadly, I value collaborative and strengths based approaches that view therapy as something done with clients rather than to them. I believe meaningful change happens through curiosity, compassion, and many small moments of insight that build over time.

• Which particular aspects of health or the human journey are you interested in?

  I am particularly interested in the inner experiences of people who may appear to be coping well on the surface while working incredibly hard underneath. Many of the individuals I support are high masking, outwardly successful, or deeply conscientious, yet internally experiencing anxiety, overwhelm, burnout, or a constant sense of needing to keep up. I am drawn to the “frantic pedalling beneath the surface” and helping people feel seen, understood, and less alone in that invisible effort.
  
  I am passionate about supporting identity development, emotional regulation, and self understanding across childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, especially for those whose needs or differences have been overlooked or misunderstood. I am deeply interested in how people learn to unmask safely, build self compassion, and move toward lives that feel more sustainable and authentic.
  
  I also value an intersectional lens in therapy. Gender, sexuality, cultural background, race, socioeconomic context, family systems, and lived experience all shape how people see themselves and how the world responds to them. These layers of identity cannot be separated from mental health, and I believe meaningful therapy honours the whole person within their broader social and cultural context.

• What methods do you use?

  My work is integrative and tailored to each person, rather than fixed to a single method. I draw on evidence informed approaches including Compassion Focused Therapy, Schema Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and elements of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), adapting these to suit each client’s needs, goals, and stage of life.
  
  Sessions may include exploring thoughts and beliefs, working with emotions and nervous system responses, building practical coping skills, and supporting identity development, self compassion, and unmasking for neurodivergent individuals.
  
  With children and families, this often involves parent support, play based strategies, and tools that can be carried into everyday routines. With adolescents and adults, therapy may focus on patterns, relationships, masking, values, and creating meaningful, sustainable change.
  
  Across all work, I prioritise collaboration, safety, and pacing, using a strengths based and neuro affirming lens.

• When do you think the client will start to feel that progress is being made?

  This varies from person to person, but many clients begin to notice small shifts within the first few sessions. Early progress might look like feeling more understood, gaining new language for their experiences, or beginning to see links between past experiences, current triggers, and familiar patterns.
  
  Over time, progress often involves recognising default coping strategies that may once have been protective, then gently retiring or reshaping them in favour of approaches that better serve the client’s current life, relationships, and goals. This can include building new emotional skills, changing unhelpful thinking patterns, or learning more sustainable ways to respond to stress and overwhelm.

• How has therapy made a difference in your life?

  Over time, therapy has also taught me the value of slowing down, questioning unhelpful patterns, and choosing responses that better align with my values rather than defaulting to old coping strategies. It has supported my growth as a parent, partner, and professional, and continues to influence how I show up in relationships and in my work.
  
  Experiencing therapy from the client’s perspective has deepened my respect for the courage it takes to seek support. It reminds me to approach my clients with humility, warmth, and genuine belief in their capacity to grow and change.

• What do you like most about being a therapist?

  What I love most about being a therapist is the opportunity to connect deeply with people and to sit alongside them in honest, meaningful conversations. It is a privilege to hear people’s stories, understand their inner worlds, and create a space where they feel safe enough to be real, vulnerable, and curious about themselves.
  
  I find it incredibly rewarding to witness change over time, especially the quiet, gradual shifts that build confidence, self understanding, emotional resilience, and a stronger sense of agency. Seeing someone move from feeling stuck or overwhelmed to feeling more empowered, authentic, and at ease in their life is deeply meaningful.

• Do you ever have 'bad hair' days?

  Yes of course!! With two kids under 4, this is a frequent occurrence.

• What do you think is the most significant problem we face, in the world today?

  I think one of the biggest challenges right now is how divided we’ve become, and how easy it is to lose compassion, both for other people and for ourselves. It can feel like everyone is under pressure to have an opinion, pick a side, or present a perfect version of themselves, which leaves very little room for nuance, empathy, or vulnerability.

• Can you share the name of a book, film, song, event or work of art that inspires you?

  No Bad Parts - Dr Richard Schwartz.