Stress, PTSD and Anxiety Therapists in Cranbrook, BC.

One helpful approach to dealing with stress and anxiety is to calm the sympathetic nervous system, and one of the most effective techniques for doing this is to learning to breath slowly and deeply, while cultivating mindful, present awareness. In treating anxiety we learn to face our emotions and to develop active ways to manage unhelpful thoughts and unpleasant and distressing emotions. Discerning what we can influence and what lies beyond our control is also important. In addition, it is critically important to maintain social connections, to deliberately regulate our intake of information through social media, and seek out stories of hope and compassion.

Anxiety falls along a continuum from acceptable to crippling, debilitating anxiety requiring professional intervention. The major forms that anxiety takes are: Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Panic Disorder, Phobic Disorders, Social Anxiety Disorders and Obsessive Compulsive Disorders (OCD). A variety of proven therapeutic interventions are well established now, eg., Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), Yoga, Tai Chi, Breathwork. By diving into therapy clients regain a sense of optimism, courage and confidence in relationships, workplace and career, driving, aging, life transitions and more.

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.

Therapy for anxiety can provide tools that help us learn to calm the body's physical responses to stress. Therapy allow us to find realistic and soothing ways to talk about yourself, engage in fulfilling relationships and enjoy every day experiences. It allow us to take risks and to overcome the avoidance of anxiety that paradoxically increases anxiety.

Living with fear and anxiety is hard. To learn to let go of our fears and have a more peaceful, loving and healthy mind is the greatest gift we can give ourselves. With less fear we will have a less stressed out perspective on on those challenges that previously stressed us out. When we let go of our worried anxious approach to life we can then energize ourselves with fulfilling experiences.

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.

I offer an integrative blend of somatic awareness, mindfulness practices, relational attunement, and trauma-informed presencing to help my clients address anxiety and stress in their lives. Using your natural healing process as our guide, we can help the nervous system learn what a peaceful state of health and vitality is again. I am currently offering sessions online and in person.

Do you feel anxious, worried or on edge? Are you unable to stop worrying at times? Do you worry about many different things? Do you worry about something awful happening? Do you lay awake at night worrying? Anxiety and stress is very hard to cope with at times. It can cause fatigue, muscle tension, and an overall feeling of being unwell. Bettina uses a number of different approaches to help alleviate anxiety and stress. EMDR and CBT are empirically validated therapies to help you with both anxiety and stress. Sometimes trauma or emotional childhood experiences can cause the anxiety that we feel as adults. EMDR can help heal the wounds of trauma and lessen the anxiety we feel in our lives.

The circumstances and issues that you are dealing with are unique to you, but you don't have to face them alone. Every individual has different experiences, perceptions, feelings, thoughts, beliefs, values, attitudes, cultural backgrounds and "upbringings". Counselling sessions are private and confidential, and can provide a way for you to explore your problems and really tune in to your feelings. This is an opportunity to speak freely about your circumstances and release pent up feelings, without having to worry about what others think or feel, and without receiving unwanted advise from family, friends or coworkers. At the root of the problem, there are very real, legitimate and understandable reasons for feeling the way you feel, thinking the way...(view profile to read more)