About Emily
Emily McBay is a licensed mental health counselor with 13 years of clinical experience. She moved from the Midwest to Florida and shifted careers from meteorology to counseling after seeing how people cope with everyday challenges. She uses a person-centered, integrative approach and focuses on meeting each person where they are.
Emily aims to be encouraging and practical in sessions. Emily earned a bachelor’s degree from UMass and a master’s in Counseling/Psychology from Palm Beach Atlantic University with a concentration in Family and Forensics.
Background and approach
Early in her career she worked in correctional settings and provided individual counseling at a university and a treatment center. She now sees people through a local non-profit in Florida. In sessions she blends techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, attachment-based methods, and solution-focused work.
The goal is to pick what helps each person make usable changes, not to stick to one rigid method. She also draws on client-centered principles to keep the work rooted in what matters to the individual. She commonly helps people facing stress, anxiety, depression, parenting and family concerns, relationship and intimacy issues, trauma and abuse, anger, and low self-esteem.
Additional focuses include ADHD, caregiver strain, infertility-related stress, and life transitions such as midlife challenges or pregnancy and childbirth. Emily describes therapy as a collaborative process. She will help set goals, practice new skills, and offer encouragement while being realistic about limits.
Her style is warm, down-to-earth, and oriented toward practical steps that fit a person’s life.
Approaches that guide online sessions
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps people notice and accept difficult thoughts and feelings while taking steps toward what matters to them. It is useful for anxiety, depression, and life changes that feel overwhelming.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy focuses on identifying unhelpful thinking patterns and testing small behavior changes to reduce symptoms. It tends to work well for anxiety, mood concerns, and managing stress with clear, step-by-step skills.
Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early relationship patterns affect current connections and emotional responses. It can help with intimacy issues, codependency, and communication problems by building awareness of relationship habits.
Finding the right approach is a shared process. The therapist will talk with each person about goals, preferences, and what has or hasn’t worked before. Together they pick methods and adjust them as progress is made so the work stays relevant and practical.
Online therapy offers flexible ways to meet - video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text messaging. Video is helpful for full sessions when seeing facial cues matters. Phone sessions can fit a busy day or require less bandwidth. Live chat and messaging are useful for quick check-ins, short coaching, or ongoing support between sessions. These options make it easier to keep therapy consistent around work, family, and daily routines.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also works with
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Career difficulties
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Family problems
- Fertility issues
- Forgiveness
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Parenting issues
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 13 years
- Licensed
- Florida
- Languages
- English