Stress, PTSD and Anxiety Therapists in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA.

Counseling for Anxiety & Stress involves a combination of addressing the external, situational stressors and the client's internal responses to those stressors. I work with my clients to determine where they have control and how they can better exercise that control to reduce anxious feelings, and how to more effectively handle those situations in their lives that are beyond their direct control. I teach clients new stress management skills, practice creating and maintaining healthier boundaries in stressful relationships, and provide new ways of thinking about circumstances to reduce anxiety.

I take a practical approach to treating anxiety and stress. I help you identify the sources of anxiety if you do not already know them. I support you in learning skills to regulate your emotions and increase awareness of body sensations and experiences in order to help you be able to control and reduce feelings of anxiety. I also use a combination of exposure therapy, if appropriate, and adjustment to lifestyle to help you reduce or eliminate sources of anxiety or stress. I know that every experience of anxiety or stress is unique and I will work with you to develop a plan of support tailored to your needs. I will provide a safe environment for you to challenge and overcome your fear/stress

If you're struggling with anxious thoughts, you may find it hard to focus. The fight or flight alarm is going off in your brain, constantly sending you messages starting with "what if...." If worrying is keeping you trapped in a hamster wheel, tired, but unable to rest, you may find yourself turning to addictive substances or behaviours to cope. As an addiction counsellor, I help clients cope with the anxious thoughts keeping them trapped in addictive behaviours. By uncovering these underlying thoughts, I help you develop coping skills so you can gain a sense of focus, clarity, confidence, and freedom from constantly overthinking. Send me a message and I'll guide you through the next steps.

Anxiety and stress are the symptoms I treat most often in my practice. Some people are not aware, but trauma is deep-rooted anxiety that is held within our body. We can feel anxious about work, children, relationships, or family. We can feel stressed about work or relationships and friendships. A highly effective tool for treating these symptoms is mindfulness. Mindfulness is a way that you can learn to relax the anxiety that is held within your body and your mind. I love this technique because it is not only highly effective, but it is very easy to learn. You can walk away from your first therapy session with a start to your mindfulness journey and have real tools at your disposal.

Experiencing occasional anxiety is a normal part of life. However, anxiety disorders and ongoing chronic stress can appear as repeated episodes of worry & fear, or develop into sudden feelings of intense anxiety with physical sensations, known as panic attacks. Your anxiety may feel related to an event or thought, and other times appear to occur randomly and without cause. Anxiety can develop at any age, when left untreated it may develop into depression. In therapy we will explore how anxiety is affecting your life. You will learn how your physical, emotional and mental health are connected and together create an effective treatment plan specific to your goals to improve your well-being.

I begin by understanding how you experience anxiety/stress because how you experience them is unique for you. Then we begin to increase your tolerance for how you experience anxious/stressful thoughts, feelings, memories, and/or situations. This is necessary so the anxiety/stress stops being an overwhelming experience that interferes and gets in the way of your life. It's crucial to be able to become more comfortable when you experience anxiety/stress because they're a part life. The problem is the distressing and limiting to debilitating effect they have on you. As you learn to be able to do this, you will begin to experience more peacefulness, calm, hope, self-confidence and self-esteem.

Having been a psychotherapist for 30 years, I consistantly work a great deal with clients in the area of stress and anxiety (as well as panic attacks). I have a very objective, and professional approach to these areas and a solution oriented way of assisting my clients to achieve relief and results fast. Through working with me you will develop an arsenal of new "tools" which you may immediately apply in daily life and situations. This will help you gain control over particular areas or situations in which you are currently "stuck" and may feel helpless or unaffective. Please give me a call so that I might help you "get your life back". My website: www.therapyhelp4you.com

Is worry or panic disrupting your life? While anxiety is a normal reaction to stress, high levels of sustained stress can be disturbing and can cause distress that interferes with a person's ability to lead a normal life. Many people who suffer from anxiety feel alone and different from others. They may be isolating, socially, experiencing panic, struggling with constant worries, or obsessing over concerns they have little control over. I assist people with anxiety to overcome fears, identify the sources of anxiety, and learn strategies to reduce and manage stress. But most of all, I help them reclaim their peace of mind. Please reach me at 949.370.4726 or at info@southoccounseling.com.