About Wendy
Dr. Wendy Whinnery helps people manage stress, anxiety, grief, and major life changes. She is a licensed mental health counselor in New York with ten years of clinical experience.
Her approach centers on listening first and helping each person find practical steps forward. She focuses on common, often overwhelming problems like depression, trauma and abuse, addiction, and relationship strain. She also supports people facing issues around gender and sexuality, eating concerns, parenting stress, and compassion fatigue.
Background and approach
People with bipolar disorder, ADHD, and personality-related difficulties are also within her scope of practice. Her work emphasizes a person-centered stance - she starts by building trust through warmth and genuine regard. From there she brings in tools from cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy when those methods match a person’s needs.
Motivational interviewing and solution-focused techniques are used to set achievable goals and build momentum. Dr. Whinnery’s military family experience informs her understanding of veteran and armed forces issues and the strain military life can place on relationships.
She draws on that background when people describe deployment, reintegration, or related stressors. Clients can expect straightforward conversations about what is and isn’t working in daily life, practical coping skills, and short-term strategies for immediate relief. Over time the work can shift toward deeper patterns and long-term change when that fits the person’s goals.
Approaches that guide online sessions
Dr. Whinnery often draws from client-centered therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) when working online. Client-centered therapy focuses on listening with warmth and respect so people can clarify what they want to change and why. CBT looks at how thoughts and behaviors interact and teaches practical skills to reduce anxiety, depression, and unhelpful patterns. DBT emphasizes emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and improving relationships, which can help when emotions feel overwhelming.Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk with the person about goals, preferences, and what has or has not helped in the past. Together they decide whether to emphasize skill-building, short-term problem solving, or deeper exploration over time.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to fit different needs. Video is useful for fuller interaction and visual cues, phone calls work well when bandwidth or movement is limited, live chat or text can support quick check-ins or ongoing coaching between sessions. These options make it easier to schedule sessions around work, school, or family demands and let people try different ways of staying connected to a therapist.
Frequently asked questions
What concerns does Dr. Whinnery commonly address?
What is her therapeutic style like?
How much clinical experience does she have?
What are her credentials and where is she based?
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What session formats are available for meeting?
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
Also works with
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Eating disorders
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- LGBT
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Sexual dysfunction
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 10 years
- Licensed
- New York
- Languages
- English