EMILY BUCHANAN
[human] resilience and capacity specialist
supporting people to stay engaged and resourced in systems change work — without paying an unsustainable personal cost
COACH & ACT PRACTITIONER
I offer coaching-based support grounded in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for people working in complex systems change environments.
My work supports individuals to stay grounded, psychologically flexible, and well-resourced over time, particularly where the work matters deeply and the systems themselves are challenging. This support is designed for moments when the usual ways of coping no longer feel sufficient and you’re ready to try something different.
I bring depth across multiple therapeutic approaches, alongside experience working in systems-change environments, so the support feels relevant, grounded, and genuinely helpful.
The reality of working in complex systems change can often feel like an invisible weight you’re carrying. It’s the mental, emotional, and physical load that builds when what you care about collides with the realities of the systems you operate in. This kind of work asks a lot — urgency and responsibility, alongside holding hope, managing frustration at slow progress, and sometimes even grief for what is being lost — all while navigating imperfect systems and complex human dynamics. Yet because pressure is normalised in so many settings, the cumulative strain often goes unnoticed until it begins to affect health, relationships, or your capacity to work well.
People often keep pushing through because it feels like there isn’t another option, until the load becomes unsustainable and something has to give.
Early warning signs tend to show up in familiar ways — disrupted sleep, persistent fatigue, difficulty concentrating, a shorter fuse, or less space for creativity and perspective. You might notice yourself defaulting to knee-jerk reactions, or feeling overwhelmed in situations that once felt manageable.
Over time, this can mean working with less range and capacity than you’re used to having and the work itself becomes harder to sustain — even though you care deeply and are highly capable. This isn’t a failure of resilience or commitment; it reflects the reality of carrying complex, relentless demands, and of having outgrown the ways of responding that once worked.
People come to me for different reasons. Some are feeling stretched or overwhelmed; others are noticing how ongoing pressure or a sense of scarcity is shaping how they think, relate, and make decisions. Often, there’s a sense that the costs of working this way are starting to outweigh the benefits.
For others, it’s about reconnecting with what they care about — finding more ease, enjoyment, and balance in their lives, and a way of working that doesn’t constantly push them to the edge.
My role is to help clients understand how pressure is showing up in their day-to-day lives, and to offer support that opens up new options and choices to move out of default patterns and towards behaviours that feel more intentional and sustainable.
Over time, this combination of awareness and practical support can open up meaningful shifts, such as:
learning to respond under pressure in ways that reflect your values
feeling more coherent and grounded in work and life in general
meeting the demands of your work with more ease, in ways that leave more energy and space for the rest of your life
This support is grounded in the understanding that many of the pressures people are navigating are systemic and interconnected. The focus is not on personal optimisation or individual “wellness” for its own sake, but on supporting people to live and work within complex systems in ways that are more sustainable, human-centred, and aligned with their values.
MY APPROACH
client testimonials