Stress, PTSD and Anxiety Therapists in Bowen Island, BC.

Anxiety is a natural response to stress but can become a constant state for some. It serves as a signal that something needs attention, often pointing to unmet needs or deeper emotions like fear, anger, or grief. Anxiety distracts from these core emotions, especially if expressing them feels unsafe. It also has energy, pushing us to work harder and stay functional, unlike depression, which tends to lead to helplessness. By slowing down and exploring anxiety’s roots, we can uncover what it’s trying to teach us, offering insight into deeper emotional truths.

You might be familiar with that tense, unsettled feeling that you can't shake. The overthinking, ruminating, and worrying. It's so hard to be present and engaged when we suffer with anxiety! Anxiety is the #1 reason people seek out my services. I can help you get to the roots of your anxiety (hint: it's not ONLY about disputing your irrational thoughts) so that you feel more grounded and alive. Through their work with me, my clients have reported that they are more socially engaged, less in their heads, more in tune with their bodies, and better able to attend to the underlying emotions and needs underlying the anxiety. I look forward to supporting you in moving beyond your anxiety.

Do you find yourself worrying about whether you locked the front door,even though you know that you checked it three times? Do you feel your palms sweating and your heart racing, with an impending sense of doom as a sense panic washes over you? These are both forms of anxiety, that sense that the world is not a safe place and worry and concern over the future. Together we will work together to improve your sense of well being, decrease your anxiety and release you from the need to devote energy and brain space to safety behaviours.

Do you have difficulty “turning off” your brain? Is your anxiety creeping back up on you or has it become overwhelming or paralyzing? Are stress and anxiety negatively impacting your health, relationships, or career? Stress can be even more difficult to manage for those with a pre-disposition towards anxiety. We would like to help. We provide treatment to help you relieve anxiety and stress, develop coping skills, and build confidence. We will address your triggers, your relationship with anxiety as well as your attempts to “control” it, and learn more adaptive ways that allow you to flourish. Call us today at (604) 614 – 7177 to get started.

Life is like a bathtub, except there are usually lots of drains and not enough taps to fill it up - so we live in a state of not having being able to fill up fast enough which causes anxiety and stress. Sometimes there are physiological reasons for anxiety and stress, and those need to be addressed medically. I will help you identify if that could be your case. But if it is or isn't, counselling can help you identify and explore those drains and taps and help you plug up some drains and create more taps. The goal is to help you live out of fullness rather than emptiness.

Real Solutions to Real Challenges. Stress is necessary for survival and provides opportunity for growth. However, it can aslo result in anxiety and even panic with accompaning physical symptoms. Unproductive coping mechanisms may kick in that have become entrenched and difficult to break. In more severe cases Obsessive-Complusive Behaviors may surface to distract us from the anxieties. These obsessive-compulsive behaviors may become debilitating and incredibly frustrating. Martin helps clients deminish their anieties by cognitive restructuring, relaxation training, and overcoming avoidance. Avoidance only provides short-term relief, at the cost significantly damaging our self-esteem

Everyone experiences anxiety and stress at times. If anxiety and stress persist over a long period of time, and interferes with your daily life, you may have an anxiety disorder. Therapy can provide you with a safe space to help find relief and give you tools to move forward with your life. As a therapist, I will support you as you develop new skills, thinking patterns, and improve self esteem.

Anxiety and Stress can be related to a number of things going on in our lives at a given time. Typically it is how we perceive the stressors in our life, or the feeling that we don't have the resources to cope that determines whether or not we feel anxious, stressed, or overwhelmed. If we are unable to get into a RECOVERY zone, anxiety and stress can quickly seem to spin out of control and EVERYTHING may feel too hard. I use Cognitive and Behavioural, Mindfulness, and Ego State therapies to help individuals quickly acquire the tools, and insights that help them reduce the Anxiety symptoms and navigate their anxiety triggers. Moreover, they regain a sense of calm and control in their lives.

Every day , we are exposed to different distresses. How we perceive the external distresses could result in how we feel. When we feel anxious and stressed out, we feel scared and vulnerable , because of the activation of emotional memories of harmful and painful experiences in the absence of protection and support. In the process of therapy , while I help my clients process the past harmful experiences in to helpful ones , I assist the clients in: Enhancing self-efficacy or sense of agency , Resolving discrepancies between self-beliefs and self-standards, Increasing tolerance for—and ownership of negative affects and perhaps affective experience in general.

Anxiety can severely impact the quality of a person's life. It can impact their sleep, work, relationships, school, and their physical health. Sometimes, anxiety can become so intense that people experience physical symptoms like sweating, heart racing, dizziness, nausea, etc. The good news is that there are effective psychological treatments for anxiety. CBT (Cognitive behavioural therapy), which is the type of therapy I practice, is an evidence-based approach that provides individuals with skills to help manage their anxiety and get control over their lives back.

Anxiety and stress keep us out of connection to ourselves. Anxiety often helps protect you from other feelings that are too seemingly to distressing to bear. But then it came seem to overtake everything else in your life. If you would like to start to understand your anxiety and who you are underneath it, please reach out. A combination of approaches tailored to you can help you connect to yourself and lift the anxiety.

My approach to anxiety and stress is wholistic—I will help you understand and free yourself from critical inner voices as well as teach you how to self-regulate your nervous system for calm and ease by: • Learning about you and your life, which can include any or all of the following: personal/gender identity, family, culture, relationship, social life, work, medical issues • Selecting the modalities we both feel will be most helpful for you and practicing them in session together • Modalities I work with include: attachment healing, self-regulation, body sensing inquiry, setting healthy boundaries, disarming the inner critic, self-esteem, hypnosis, family constellations

While our bodies are perfectly designed to adapt and react to stress, modern problems mean that we tend to detect life threatening dangers in very ordinary places. Conflicts at work, arguments in our relationships and uncertainties such as the post-Covid world activate old survival mechanisms. We may be stuck in the buzzing, fear states of ‘fight-flight’ or the numb and paralyzed states of ‘freeze and shut down.’ The good news is that I have a long history of safely and successfully helping individuals and couples to reduce and release stress using a variety of CBT and mindfulness techniques, as well as trauma-informed therapy. You have my commitment to compassionate and educated care.

Anxiety and Stress are a part of our human experience as we navigate so much that is out of our control and unpredictable in life. Some anxiety and stress is helpful in navigating difficult moments in life. We want to be able to move through life with an awareness of how the anxiety and stress is helping us and how it is also covering deeper emotions that need to be addressed. Through body psychotherapy we can connect more deeply to ourselves and the emotions stored in our bodies and use tools and exercises to regulate the anxiety and stress while processing the deeper emotions. The anxiety and stress dissipates as we become more comfortable with our deeper emotions and we begin to thrive.

Symptoms of stress and anxiety can originate from many different sources, including issues related to addiction, the effects of addiction, infidelity, difficult childhoods, dysfunctional families of origin, and the impact of past hurts and coping patterns. By offering a setting that is based on trust, empathy, and collaboration, counselling can provide you with a safe and supportive space to explore your thoughts and emotions while creating a deeper, more authentic understanding of who you are, what you need, and the dynamics that you are navigating. It is possible to thrive and be well no matter what you have been through, and counselling can help with this.

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the demands of life? Anxiety is a common experience in our fast-paced world that can leave us feeling depleted, stressed, and uneasy. I will work with you to understand the anxiety you are experiencing. I will help you slow down and reconnect with yourself and your desires. This work may involve tuning into your body's sensations, practicing mindfulness, identifying your values and desired ways of being, as well as setting boundaries to protect your energy and time. I will help to ease your stressors so that you can reconnect to joy, peace, and freedom.

Our focus is to support individuals who are struggling with anxiety and stress to a more relaxed and manageable way of being. Not only is stress and anxiety hard on our health and energy, but it also can have a significant impact on our world around us. We will work in a collaborative manor to break apart the building blocks that have contributed to the imbalance of anxiety and stress in your life, and empower you with the tools and techniques to remain in balance.

Anxiety and stress can be the first signs that something is off that we need to respond to in our lives. They can snowball until they have power over us: their impulses conflicting with our greater needs. They can also be signs of deeper issues that are unique to each of our lives. Our personalities, senses of self, life histories, and individual understandings of the world all play a role; as do our nervous systems and embodied patterns of how we generate and resolve anxious feelings. Together we’ll collaborate to get every part of you on your team, aligned with the direction you want to take as as a whole.

We live in anxious and stressful times. Although anxiety is an expected and adaptive reaction to stress, it can become a problem when it limits our ability to work, socialize, and enjoy life. The good news is we know that evidenced-based techniques can significantly reduce anxiety and help cope with stress. Our reactions to stress can impact all areas of life including work, relationships, and general well-being. I want to help you manage the current stress in your life, and develop resilience to make it easier to rebound from future challenges.

Some worry is a normal part of the physical and emotional human experience. It helps us get things done and keeps us safe. When worry becomes so big that it gets in the way of daily functioning and wellbeing then it may be time to seek help. Heather draws on several types of therapeutic approaches, including mindfulness, cognitive behavioural therapy, and somatic therapies for trauma and relational injuries, to help clients understand and manage anxiety.

Anxiety and stress take a hold on you and never let go, leaving you trapped and frozen. I help my clients to learn all about the magic of mindfulness practice. It's one of the most effective ways to put you in control of your emotions, rather than them controlling you. Imagine how great it would be to have an internal place of peace and serenity that you can use at any time to relax and become grounded. Mindfulness is an ancient practice that is also supported by scientific empirical studies. It's one of the best ways to change your life.

Anxiety and Stress can be incredibly debilitating - and make the smallest of tasks seem like large mountains to climb. I have lived experience with stress and anxiety and support clients with building tools, increase understanding and education and help improve daily functioning. We will work together to determine your goals and take a proactive approach to follow through on a plan for effective solutions. The sessions will lead to improved mood, increased daily functioning and moving from surviving to thriving in your life!

Anxiety and stress is the body’s natural response to danger, an automatic alarm that goes off when we feel threatened. But when anxiety is constant or overwhelming, when it interferes with your relationships and activities—that’s when you’ve crossed the line from normal anxiety into the territory of anxiety disorders. As a product of the body’s fight-or-flight response, anxiety involves a wide range of physical symptoms. Many people experiencing anxiety benefit from supportive counselling or couples or family therapy. However, experts agree that the most effective form of treatment for the is cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT).

Anxiety is one of the most common mental health issues. If you are feeling anxious, you are not alone. Anxiety can be crippling and can drain our energy to enjoy life. The good news is that anxiety is also very treatable. When working with anxiety, I use my clinical experience to tailor my approach to your specific situation. We will focus on what tools will be most useful for you to regulate your anxiety and will also discuss the roots of your anxiety. We will get curious about what anxiety is trying to tell you about the emotions that need to be addressed or the changes that need to be made in your life. We will work together to find your inner calm again.

While most treatment approaches for anxiety and stress are effective on the surface, they don’t treat the real problem. Mantras, deep breathing, and rational dialogues about your fear being irrational rarely work---for most people don’t believe it or you! Imagine if you can trick the brain into changing without you telling your conscious mind that you are changing it? Problem with anxiety and stress is that the brain in this state knows you want to change it and it resists. Contact Kevin@kevinfleminphd.com for the ultimate stress and anxiety solution that will literally change your brain's autonomic nervous system patterns while you sit on your butt. 877-606-6161.