Therapy for Anxiety
When worry has taken up permanent residence in your mind and your body won't settle, it's time to do something different.
Book a free 15-minute consultationWhen "Just Relax" Stops Being Helpful
Anxiety isn't just excessive worry; it's your nervous system stuck in overdrive. It shows up as racing thoughts at 3am, tension you can't shake, avoiding situations that used to be manageable, or constantly bracing for the next thing to go wrong.
Maybe it's gotten worse recently because of relationship stress, work pressure, or major life changes. Or maybe it's been your baseline for so long you can't remember what calm actually feels like. Either way, it's exhausting, and the usual advice about deep breathing and positive thinking isn't cutting it.
What Therapy Looks Like
What Therapy Actually Looks Like
I work with anxiety using approaches that address both the mental patterns and the physical response. We're not just talking about your worries; we're working with your nervous system and the underlying reasons it's stuck in threat mode.
- Understanding your anxiety patterns. What triggers the spiral, how you respond, and what keeps it going. Sometimes anxiety is protecting you from something specific, and part of the work is figuring out what that is.
- Working with your nervous system through somatic approaches. Your body is holding tension and stress, and we address that directly, not just think our way out of it.
- Building practical skills from ACT and DBT. How to notice anxiety without getting pulled into the spiral, how to make space for uncomfortable feelings, and how to act even when anxiety is present.
- Looking at the bigger picture. Anxiety often connects to relationship patterns, boundaries, perfectionism, or old survival strategies that aren't serving you anymore.
- Reducing avoidance gradually. Anxiety loves avoidance, but avoidance makes your world smaller. We work on expanding what feels possible again.
My approach is integrative and trauma-informed, combining ACT, DBT, somatic work, and other modalities. What matters is that we address anxiety from multiple angles: the thoughts, the physical sensations, the behaviours, and the underlying patterns.
This isn't about eliminating anxiety entirely (that isn't realistic). It's about changing your relationship with it so it isn't running your life. You'll learn to work with anxiety rather than constantly fighting it or letting it make your decisions.
This Might Sound Familiar
A Few Sentences. See If Any Land.
Who This Is For
Who This Is For
- The worry is constant, or it spikes at predictable times, and it isn't easing on its own.
- Your body stays tense and on alert even when nothing is wrong.
- You're avoiding more and more to keep the anxiety manageable, and your world is getting smaller.
- You're functioning on the outside, but it's costing you more than anyone realises.
- You've tried the standard advice and it hasn't touched the underlying pattern.
You don't need to know whether what you're feeling counts as "real anxiety" or is bad enough to warrant support. If it's wearing you down, that's reason enough to look at it.
Therapy is one kind of support, and it isn't the only one. Registered Psychotherapists in Ontario don't diagnose; if you want a formal diagnosis or to talk through medication, your family physician, a psychiatrist, or a psychologist is the right place to start. If you're in crisis, the 9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline is available 24 hours a day by call or text. In an emergency, call 911. For Ontario community and social services, call 211.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Worry in response to real circumstances is a natural part of functioning. Anxiety that warrants attention tends to persist beyond the situation that prompted it, interferes with daily functioning or sleep, feels difficult to control, or shows up physically in ways that are hard to manage. If anxiety is regularly affecting your quality of life or decision-making, it is worth exploring.
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Anxiety involves the body's threat-response system, which is physiological by design. Symptoms like racing heart, shallow breathing, muscle tension, and digestive disruption are not side effects of anxious thinking; they are part of the same response. Effective anxiety work often addresses the body as well as the mind.
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Yes. High-functioning anxiety is common, particularly among people whose performance and productivity have remained intact despite significant internal distress. Functioning on the outside does not neutralize the cost of sustained anxiety on the inside.
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Sessions typically involve identifying the patterns and triggers that maintain anxiety, developing skills for working with anxious thought and physiological arousal, and building a broader relationship to uncertainty. The approach is shaped by what each person brings rather than a fixed protocol.
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Some approaches do include practices between sessions, and others do not. The pacing and structure of that kind of work is something to discuss directly in a consultation or early sessions, since it depends on what fits for you.
Related Reading
More on Navigating Anxiety
Working With 365 Psychotherapy & Counselling
Working Together on Anxiety
I work with adults across Ontario navigating anxiety, from the constant low-grade kind that never fully switches off to the kind that spikes and takes over. My approach is trauma-informed and integrative, and I hold the Certified Clinical Trauma Specialist - Individual (CCTS-I) credential from the Arizona Trauma Institute.
If any of this resonates, a free 15-minute consultation is the place to start. It's a low-pressure conversation to see whether what I offer is a fit.
Book a free 15-minute consultation- Registered Psychotherapist, CRPO #12083
- MA Counselling Psychology, Yorkville University
- BSc Psychology (Hons), University of Toronto
- CCTS-I, Arizona Trauma Institute
- ADR Certificate, York University