Petina Walker, BACP

Petina Walker is an experienced integrative counsellor based in Devon, United Kingdom, who combines practical skill with a compassionate, client-led approach. She is an Ambassador for Betterhelp and a member of the BACP - the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy - reflecting her commitment to professional standards and ongoing development. Petina trained at The Iron Mill Institute in Exeter, qualifying in 2008, and has built a varied career that includes roles as a counsellor, trainer and drugs and alcohol professional.

Her clinical work draws on a range of models so interventions can be tailored to each person. She works intuitively and solution-focused while using Transactional Analysis as an underpinning framework, and integrates techniques from cognitive-behavioural approaches, NLP and mindfulness when appropriate. Petina specialises in supporting people with addictions and co-dependency, stress and anxiety, anger management and relationship difficulties, and she pays particular attention to how trauma, stress and dependency interact with everyday behavioural patterns.

Over the years she has facilitated groups and treatment programmes, completed assessments and provided one-to-one online interventions as a senior member of a Clinical Assessments & Brief Interventions Team within a local drugs and alcohol service. She also ran a wellbeing centre in Exeter for 21 years, an enterprise recognised with a Best Small Business Award for quality of service. Petina brings tuned-in listening skills and a natural empathy to her work, helping clients find clarity and practical ways forward. She continues to develop her private practice and plans to publish a book on her integrative approach to addiction and co-dependency.

Attachment-informed and client-centered online therapy

Petina draws on attachment-based approaches to explore how early relational patterns affect present-day relationships and emotional responses - this can help people working through abandonment, attachment concerns or patterns of codependency. She also uses client-centered therapy, which emphasizes a respectful, empathic stance and places the client's goals and pace at the centre of the work, making it well suited to people seeking a gentle, collaborative process. Mindfulness therapy is incorporated to help clients develop present-moment awareness and practical skills for managing stress, anxiety and emotional reactivity.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapeutic process. Petina works collaboratively with each person to identify which methods fit their needs, goals and preferences, and she adapts interventions as the work evolves so the therapy remains responsive and effective.

Online therapy with Petina is available via video calls, phone sessions, live chat or text-based messaging, providing flexibility for different schedules and needs. These options make it easier to access consistent support from licensed professionals without the need for travel, and they allow clients to choose the format that feels most comfortable for them.