Hello, I'm Emily Wilkinson
I'm a poet, psychologist, facilitator, and creative coach who believes that creative expression is part of how we stay whole, especially for those of us in the helping professions. My work draws on psychology, creative practice, and collective care, while moving away from individualised models of wellbeing toward something more relational and communal.
Originally from Naarm/Melbourne, I’ve also lived in London and New York before returning home in 2018. Across these places, I noticed a pattern: the very qualities that draw us to helping work, our empathy, our dedication, our habit of putting ourselves last, can also leave us depleted and disconnected from ourselves and others.
If you're reading this, you might know this feeling intimately.
Why I Do What I Do
My work exists at the intersections of psychology, poetry, compassion and creativity. This is because I’ve seen what happens when we rely on modern wellness practices alone to prevent burnout. And yes, boundaries and rest matter. But they’re not enough.
The dominant ethos tells us that our worth comes from productivity and that play and rest must be earned. The medical model pathologises our struggles. Ableist frameworks tell us certain bodies and minds are more valuable than others, and that pushing through exhaustion is a strength (rather than recognising that this causes harm).
These inherited structures weren't built to sustain us, or, for that matter, our clients.
What we need is a deeper connection to ourselves, to one another, and to what makes life meaningful. This can also help us challenge the narratives that keep us isolated and depleted, and remind us that interdependence, not independence, is how humans survive and thrive.
Through my own experience and years of working alongside leaders, educators and health professionals, I’ve learned that we don’t just need to recharge. We need each other, and we need to remember who we are beyond our professional roles.
When we reconnect with our creativity and playfulness together, we tap into a well of energy that can’t be restored any other way. This is how we sustain ourselves, resist systems that cause harm, prevent burnout, and flourish in our work and lives.
My Approach
I combine evidence-based psychology with the depth and wisdom of ancient Buddhist and contemplative traditions. My work weaves together:
Compassion-focused approaches teach us that compassion works in three directions: the compassion we give to ourselves, the compassion we allow ourselves to receive, and the compassion we offer others.
Mindfulness and contemplative practices: Based on ancient traditions, these practices ground us in present-moment awareness.
Strengths-based work: This helps us recognise and build on our unique gifts and honour what each of us brings.
Creative and poetic processes can reconnect us with experiences of flow and with our selves. These processes can also connect us with ways of knowing that resist the narrow rationality often privileged by Western thought.
This is about remembering the curious, playful and imaginative self and integrating them into your daily life in sustainable, nourishing ways.
These are the parts of you that make meaning, that exists in relation to beauty, to language, to culture and country and to other people.
My Mission
I'm here to help you:
Reclaim the creative, playful parts of yourself that energise and inspire you and bring you joy.
Explore ways to break free from the constant cycle of rushing and exhaustion.
Reconnect with your inner wisdom and unique gifts, and the collective care that sustains us all.
Find sustainable ways to flourish while staying connected to the work you care about.
When you thriving, the people around you feel it too: your clients, your family, your community.
My Poetry Work
Poetry and psychology ask many of the same things of us. They involve deep listening, finding meaning in complexity, and the willingness to sit with what resists easy answers. They’re also about finding ways to express what it means to be human.
Whenever I'm not working with clients or facilitating programs, and sometimes when I am, you'll find me writing, reading, and thinking about poetry.
In 2018 I was co-winner of the Brooklyn Poets Yawp Poem of the Year Award, and in 2019, I received a Pushcart Prize nomination. My work has been featured on Poets Bridge, and I have read at the New York City Poetry Festival. I am currently working on my first full-length collection.
My Qualifications & Experience
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Professional Qualifications
Master of Clinical Psychology
Bachelor of Behavioural Science (Honours)
IECL Organisational Coaching (Level 1)
Fellow of the APS College of Clinical Psychologists
Member of the Institute of Executive Coaching and Leadership
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Professional Experience
Clinical Psychologist with experience supporting individuals through complex challenges
Organisational coach working with leaders and teams
Facilitator of numerous programs, including The Flourishing Way, which combines psychology research and skills with creativity
Founder of Flourishing Space
My Positioning
As a white, settler psychologist working on stolen land, I'm learning to recognise how my profession has been shaped by colonial frameworks. I'm committed to ongoing learning about how Western psychology has pathologised, excluded, and harmed those it claimed to help.
My experience has shown me how deeply ableism and the medical model harm people who don't fit narrow definitions of "productive" or "able." This informs my approach and my commitment to challenging the structures that produce that harm.
This work is ongoing, imperfect, and necessary.
Let's Connect
If you’d like to rediscover creative, playful parts of yourself, I'm here to support you.
Whether through The Flourishing Way or Continued Flourishing communities, creative coaching, speaking, or organisational work, I'll work alongside you to help you find your way back to creativity, joy, and connection.
You don’t have to figure it out alone.
