Find Sustainable Success

Counseling for High-Achievers

You Don’t Have To Choose Between Excellence And Your Wellbeing

When High-Achievement Becomes Unsustainable

You Know Something Needs to Change When...

Your assistant brings you a solid report. It’s good; clients would be happy. But you spend two hours “polishing” it, missing lunch to adjust formatting that, if you’re honest, won’t ultimately impact the outcome. The report is now 5% better. Your afternoon is gone.

You get promoted. Everyone's congratulating you. You smile, say thanks, but you're already thinking about the next level. That evening, instead of celebrating, you're researching what it takes to get the next promotion.

Your colleague's presentation has obvious flaws. Typos on slide 3. Data could be clearer. It gets approved immediately. Your presentation, which you spent all weekend perfecting, gets the same response. You can’t stop thinking about the unfairness of it all.

Your Daily Reality…

Morning: You wake up at 6am to "get ahead of the day." Check emails while your coffee brews: a quick scan becomes 20 minutes of mental work before 7am. Your partner mentions weekend plans. You’re half-listening while thinking through today's priorities.

Workday: You prepare thoroughly for every meeting, even routine ones. That project your team delivered is good, but you spend an extra hour on formatting because it could be better. You eat lunch at your desk most days. It's just easier to stay in the flow than to fully step away and come back to messages.

Evening: You're home for dinner, but check your phone between conversations. After kids' bedtime or dinner cleanup, you open your laptop for "just 30 minutes" to wrap things up. It's usually more like an hour. Your partner's watching TV. You're half-watching, half-working.

Night: You get in bed at a reasonable time, but it takes a while to fall asleep. Your mind's still processing the day, planning tomorrow. Did you word that email right? What needs to happen first thing in the morning? You eventually drift off, but it's rarely the deep, restful sleep you need.

The Irony of High Achievement

The very traits that built your success — high standards, attention to detail, relentless drive — have become the cage you live in. Your greatest strengths have become your deepest struggles.

This isn’t a personal flaw. It's a strategy that's outlived its usefulness.

You developed these patterns when they were necessary, when they protected you, when they got you where you needed to go. But now they’re costing you everything you're working for: presence, peace, satisfaction, joy.

You don’t need to lower your standards. You need to change your relationship with them. That’s where I come in.

What Sustainable Success Looks like For Your Specific Journey

While the cycle of high-achieving is universal, how it shows up is unique

For the High-Achieving Professional & Entrepreneur

You get promoted but can’t celebrate because you’re already worried about proving you deserve it.

We work on the belief that your value depends on constant achievement. You’ll still have high standards; you just won't need to sacrifice everything to maintain them.

For the High-Achieving Parent

We work on the guilt that comes with feeling like you're not doing enough, even when you're doing plenty. Together, we'll address the need to excel at parenting while managing everything else on your plate.

You’ll learn to be present without the constant mental checklist. Success means enjoying family time, not just managing it.

For The High-Achieving Academic

Your PhD dissertation sits unfinished. The imposter syndrome gets worse with each academic milestone.

Together, we'll address the anxiety that makes every assignment feel like it determines your future.

You'll keep your academic standards while finding sustainable ways to meet them.

For The High-Achieving Teen

We help teens recognize their worth beyond their achievements. They'll learn to handle setbacks without spiraling, take healthy risks, and understand that one bad grade won't derail their future.

Your child will still be successful; they'll just stop believing that their value depends on being perfect.

Success That Feels Successful

Through our work together, you’ll start to build a life where your achievements finally feel rewarding

At Work

  • You submit “good enough” work and get praised. That report you would’ve spent three more hours perfecting? You send it as-is. Your boss loves it.

  • You’re achieving more by doing less. Without perfectionist paralysis, decisions are faster. Projects that took weeks take days.

  • You’re the leader who gets things done without the drama. Your team wants to work for you. You have high standards without the micromanaging.

Your Relationships

  • You’re present at dinner, laughing at your partner’s story. You help with homework without turning it into a teaching moment.

  • Your relationship feels like a relationship again. Your partner says, “It’s like I got you back.”

  • You’ve broken the cycle for your kids. They learn success doesn’t require suffering.

Your Peace of Mind

  • You close your laptop and the world doesn’t end. You’re sleeping through the night.

  • Sunday anxiety shrinks. Eventually, Sunday becomes an actual day of rest.

  • You celebrate wins instead of immediately moving goalposts. Achievement feels satisfying.

  • Your mysterious health issues (headaches, insomnia, digestive problems) begin to resolve.

Healing the Root, Not Just Managing Symptoms

You’ve already tried the surface-level fixes. This work is different. This is about rewiring your nervous system’s response to pressure and imperfection so that sustainable success becomes your new default.

The Foundation: A Brain-Based, Experiential Approach

I use a modality called AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy) integrated with the science of Interpersonal Neurobiology.

Translation: we work to change the patterns where they actually live — in your emotional brain and body — not just where you think about them.

Why This is the Missing Piece for High Achievers:

  • You don’t need more insight. You’re already highly insightful. You need a way to change how your body reacts when those insights aren’t enough.

  • Willpower fails under stress. Without calming the underlying nervous system alarm, you’ll always revert to old patterns when pressure hits.

  • Experience, not just discussion, creates change. We actively create new experiences of safety, “good enough,” and worthiness in our sessions so your brain can build new neural pathways.

What This Looks Like in a Session:

We move beyond “how was your week?” to transformative work:

  • Mapping the Alarm System: We’ll identify the physical sensations (a tight chest, a knot in your stomach) that signal your perfectionism is being triggered and teach your body that it’s safe to feel them without reacting.

  • Practicing Receiving: When you immediately minimize a success, we’ll pause and practice tolerating the discomfort of simply accepting it, rewiring your ability to feel genuine pride.

  • Building a New Default: We help your nervous system learn, through direct experience, that your worth is not conditional on flawless performance. Achievement can feel peaceful, not frantic.

What Makes This Work Different & Effective:

  • Targets the Source: We work with the deep brain structures where perfectionism is wired, not just the symptoms.

  • Efficient & Transformative: Every session is designed to create tangible change, not just understanding. We focus on creating new experiences, not just analyzing old ones.

  • I Speak Your Language: I translate neuroscience into practical strategies you can use. You don't need a PhD; you just need a willingness to try a new approach that works.

ready to get started?

Things don’t calm down for high achievers; you just move from one intense period to the next. Every month you wait is another month of Sunday dread, sleepless nights, and hollow achievements. The “perfect time” doesn't exist, but the cost of waiting does.

Get in touch With Me to schedule Your First Counseling Session.

Dr. Emily Fornwalt, standing and leaning against a wall.

I’m Emily

Welcome!

I’m Emily, and I help high-achievers break the cycle of perfectionism and burnout. With a PhD in counseling and advanced training in AEDP and Interpersonal Neurobiology, I provide a brain-based approach to help you rewire your nervous system for sustainable success.

My work is dedicated to helping professionals, parents, and students find freedom from the exhausting pressure of their own high standards.

If you’d like to learn more about me than can fit in a short blurb, please explore the link below.

how to get started in Counseling…

Here you can find detailed instructions on how to get started working together, how we proceed, and what you can expect.

First, important things to note:

  • I work exclusively online and no in-person appointments are available. 

  • I am not in network with any insurance plans and do not provide documentation for out-of-network reimbursement. There are many reasons for this, and I am happy to answer any questions you may have. 

  • I offer primarily 45-minute sessions at a rate of $225 per session. If you’d like 60-minute sessions, please ask about my current availability.

  • For intake sessions, I am available Mondays-Thursdays from 10:00-5:00. I am available for ongoing sessions Tuesdays-Thursdays from 10:00-5:00. I do not have evening or weekend availability. With regard to ongoing session availability, I cannot guarantee the availability of specific times or days based on openings you may see in my online calendar; availability there does indicate recurring availability. One of my values is to have some schedule flexibility for current clients so that when they need to make schedule adjustments, I am more likely to be able to do so. As such, an available slot does not equal the ability to put a regularly occurring appointment in that slot. If you have specific schedule needs, please reach out to confirm that I’d be able to accommodate them prior to completing an initial session.

  • Once you have decided that you’d like to proceed with scheduling with me, you can mosey over and check out my lovely contact page. Here you can click the “Schedule your first session” button located at the center of the page. This will take you to my self-scheduling option. This allows you to look over my calendar and select a time that works for you. You can schedule up to 3 weeks in advance, as long as you are at least 3 days before the date you’d like to choose. It’s important to note that this first session will be a longer (90-minute) intake session. The cost is $275.

  • Scheduling in my online calendar will send a request for the specific appointment you’ve selected and reserve it for you. I typically confirm appointments within 24 hours, excluding weekends, holidays, and times I am out of the office on vacation. After I confirm your appointment, you will receive an email from Sessions Health.

  • After you receive the confirmation, keep an eye out for three more emails. (I know! I bet you already get plenty, but I promise we just have to do this stuff once!) You will get an email welcoming you to therapy and outlining what you can expect; this will come directly from me. In addition, you will get one from Sessions Health and Aligned Counseling and Supervision; this contains your invitation to the client portal; this is where you will complete all required paperwork, which I need back 24 hours prior to our scheduled time in order to keep your appointment and avoid automatic cancellation. Finally, you will get an appointment “reminder” that will contain your telehealth link.

  • Once you’ve set up portal access, you will have just three documents to review and sign. Please note that you can sign out and progress will be saved. You may want to set aside a little time to really read these over as they have a good bit of information relevant to our work together. Documents include: the informed consent, the HIPAA privacy practices, and information about my policies for electronic communication. Please let me know if you have any questions by emailing me. After signing those you will have some demographic questions and the opportunity to tell me just a bit about what brings you to therapy.

  • Once you have set up your portal and I have a phone number, keep an eye out for a text from IvyPay. This is where you will enter your credit card information for me to charge for your sessions. I use IvyPay so that I don't have to personally handle any of your credit card information. IvyPay is a third-party HIPAA-compliant payment processor that takes care of it for me.

  • Most clients are nervous the first time they attend counseling, even if it's just the first time with a new person. If you’ve never been before, you may not know what to expect and may have many TV or movie references for what it’s like. Trust me, they’re probably inaccurate. You may think you’re required to tell me ALL the things or that I will ask probing questions to get to the root of everything. That’s not what happens either. We will still be getting to know each other. In our first session, I will gather information about your concerns, the history, what you’d like to get out of counseling, and any other things you think are relevant. We will get a general idea of direction, but it will take us time to get to know each other. This one is a little different from the others, as a lot of our time will be spent getting me up to speed on your life and concerns. Things shift after that…stay tuned.

  • It’s important to know that the completion of this initial session is not a guarantee of working together. If it ends up not working, I will do my best to help you find another provider to meet your needs. A few things that might result in us not working together include, but are not limited to:

    • You decide that we are not a good fit. 

    • I am not the most appropriate person to help you with your specific needs. 

    • You need a specific time slot and it is not available. (Avoid this by checking with me ahead of time!)

  • Once you are ready to move forward, we will get your regular appointments set up. You will be scheduled for the same recurring time slot. These are either weekly or bi-weekly depending on your needs and availability. As we get to know each other during sessions, we will determine how we will know if things are getting better. I imagine that you have checked out who I am throughout my website, so you probably already know the following info. However, it’s probably worth saying again that I very much value talking explicitly with my clients about their experience of therapy with me, rather than assuming I know what they are feeling or experiencing, or what's best for them. This means I'll regularly ask you about what is going well in our therapy work together and if there's anything we should do differently. I am not a highly directive therapist, so our sessions will focus on what you need to get out of them each time. I provide some prompts about what we’ve been exploring or your general goals, but invite you to settle in and consider how we can take care of you in our session that day.

  • When we get to a point where you’re feeling confident in what you’ve learned and are practicing, we can discuss reducing frequency (if you started weekly) or wrapping up altogether. There may be the option to reduce from bi-weekly to monthly sessions, but these are available only on a case-by-case basis, scheduled week-of, and cannot be guaranteed.

  • Please feel free to email me! I usually respond within 24 hours Mondays-Fridays.

Still Have Questions?

Contact Me

Please complete this form and I’ll be back in touch via email or text usually within 1 business day.

Call or Text

423.281.4089

Email

emily@alignedcounseling.com

office mailing address

404 S Roan St., Johnson City, TN, 37604