Stress, PTSD and Anxiety Therapists in Fort Langley, BC.

Anxiety is essential to keep us alert and aware of potential threats, however at times, our bodies stay in high alert, even when there is no immediate threat. This emotional outpouring of energies leave our thoughts lingering in a negative space. Emotions are primarily fear based and diminish our ability to think and see things clearly. Working with me you will learn to take control of your thoughts to prevent them from enticing anxiety in the body, and likewise, support strengthening your ability to tune into your body and calm the nervous system to settle the mind.

We live in a fast paced 24/7 world dealing with social media, technology and lots of things to worry about in the media. No wonder we are all a little anxious these days. I will help you change your relationship with your thoughts so they have less power and control over you. When we give in and avoid things due to anxiety we end up feeling pretty isolated. I will teach you tools and strategies to get through your stress and anxiety.

In therapy sessions clients will benefit from exploring the causes and contributing factors underlying the feelings of anxiety they are experiencing. Clients will identify stressors in their lives and identify how these stressors are effecting their emotional and physical well-being. They will learn strategies and skills to more effectively manage stress and anxiety, and learn to change their emotional reactions to stressful situations. It is my hope that clients will discover the capabilities that exist within themselves to create the peace and calm they wish to attain in their lives.

I approach anxiety and stress from an integrative and holistic perspective. I work with clients to ensure their basic needs are being met and help them develop coping tools to help regulate their nervous system and reduce stress and anxiety. I also work with clients to help them understand the root of their anxiety, as I believe that transformation can occur through both understanding and coping skills.

Anxiety for the most part is an important part of life as the Fight-or-Fight response is a powerful survival tool. If walking in the forest and you are confronted by a bear a surge of adrenaline is helpful. However, if one is experiencing this same intense response while walking through a shopping mall their quality of life rapidly diminishes. There are several effective treatments for anxiety, such as: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Systematic Desensitization, EMDR, and the development of positive self soothing skills. I incorporate these, customized for each person and their own unique experience with anxiety. You will be surprised at how fast your life can change.

Most people experience anxiety and stress in their lives. I approach anxiety as something that can be fought with evidence based strategies. Let me come alongside you as we build you a toolkit of strategies that you can practice. I will support your exploration of what is causing the anxiety, when it rears its ugly head and what you can do to confront it. Together we will build a plan to disrupt it's effects on your life.

As a society we tend fear anxiety and stress and make many efforts to avoid or get rid of it. My approach to anxiety and stress is to show you that it does not have to inhibit your functioning – you CAN do things while also being anxious, and you likely already have. Anxiety and stress were once adaptive traits that helped humans survive, and together we can work towards creating a healthier relationship with them, one that does not interfere with your daily life. We will look at your core values, underlying beliefs, and negative thought patterns that might be getting in the way, and work towards a healthier mind and body.

Anxiety is a powerful emotion that can cause a lot of distress when not managed well. Anxiety is a normal human emotion in response to stress or a threat in our environment but can sometimes get out of hand. Therapy at West Coast Counseling can help you to manage your anxiety, identify the stressors in your life and develop coping skills to manage your life better all in a safe, supportive environment.

Anxiety and Stress are approached with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Education and coping / management techniques are explored, as well as 'homework' in the form of skills practise. People should expect a clear therapy plan to reduce their experience of anxiety and increased confidence in learning how to manage and cope. With children / youth often Art Therapy and / or Play therapy is integrated into the counselling. Parents of kids should expect to be involved and supported in their awareness of anxiety and stress and how to assist their children in management.

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.

Feelings of anxiety can become so intense that it becomes overwhelming. Often individuals struggling with anxiety express constant intruding thoughts that focus on fears of events of the future. Anxiety can create physical feelings of distress like a tight chest that makes it difficult to breath, an upset or tight feeling in the stomach, and general fatigue from constantly trying to control their thoughts and actions. Some people have battled anxiety for so long that they begin to believe it is just who they are and accept the restrictions it causes in their life. Through counselling we will work to break the cycle of anxiety controlling your inner world. Bringing a sense of relief, control and freedom that has been absent for so long.

One of the many ways I approach stress anxiety is by teaching the client about each person's unique ability to manage their stress capacity. Once someone is out of their stress capacity, they start to feel anxious, overwhelmed, possibly angry, or shut down. We may also explore external factors that can contribute to the individual's stress load. In understanding the nervous system and social factors and perhaps integrating mindfulness and body practices, the goal is to enhance stress tolerance while making a change in the client's world. Essentially, anxiety is there to protect us from threats and danger. When the body detects safety, ideally anxiety should lessen. Safety is key.

As a counsellor, I can help you to explore the root of your anxiety while safely and gently working through the start of undoing the triggers that caue it. Stress is an underlying but often invasive symptom of ongoing anxiety that affects people in so many different ways. Let me help you to explore both ways to alleviate its hold on your life and also learn ways on how to prevent stress from establishing itself to begin with.

You can live free of anxiety. There are step you can take. Anxious thinking creates powerful negative messages that impact your thoughts and your body physically. The result is your life begins to shrink. This is no way to live. You are meant to live a full, healthy life. The beautiful thing is you get to choose. Today you can start on a new journey towards freedom that gives you a new level of skill and an understanding of how anxiety works to assist you in defeating it and replacing it with greater peace and joy.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is an effective way to help us examine the building blocks of our thoughts, feelings, and behaviour. We are not irrational beings who behave in random ways; we just operate on belief systems that may not be serving us very well. Understanding why we are how we are offers us the choice to be different. This same approach can help us to understand the thoughts, feelings, and behaviours of other important people in our lives as well.

n my approach to anxiety and stress treatment and counseling, I prioritize fostering a collaborative and empathetic therapeutic relationship. I aim to create a safe space where clients feel understood and supported as they navigate their anxiety and stressors. Through evidence-based techniques such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), mindfulness practices, and relaxation techniques, clients learn to identify and challenge unhelpful thought patterns, develop effective coping strategies, and cultivate resilience in the face of stressors. By providing tailored interventions and ongoing support, clients can expect to gain a deeper understanding of their anxiety and stress.

Anxiety is a feeling of dread at its least, or thoughts that lead you to believe you are unsafe and/or about to die at its worst. I offer interventions to this challenge, all of which engage the brain and body. We can take a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) approach and examine and challenge faulty thinking. We can also use Neurofeedback (NFB) as an approach to calming the central nervous system so the frontal cortex of the brain can engage in logical thinking and keep the brain from having to go to the place of anxiety unnecessarily. Another approach I use, EMDR, helps the brain to reprocess old hurts and or trauma, taking the charge out of the experience.

Anxiety and stress can have a crippling effect on our lives if left unmanaged. We will provide you with psychoeducation to better understand anxiety and the associated physiological symptoms. We will help you address any unhelpful thoughts or behaviours that may be lending to anxiety and stress and give you strategies to change them. We will provide you with tools to better manage stress and anxiety. We will also help you explore areas of your life that may be contributing and collaboratively problem solve any issues that may need to be resolved or boundaries that need to be set.

We all have anxiety and stress! It is a matter of how we manage this challenge in our daily lives. Often the anxiety and stress overwhelm us to the point of feeling hopeless! But there certainly is hope and with some consistent therapy and support one can be feeling significantly better after only a few sessions. Once we dissect the overwhelming feelings we begin to understand the underlying issues at the root cause. While medication is an option, quite often it is not necessary as psychotherapy is effective.

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)

Olivia excels in helping clients navigate anxiety and stress, whether brought on by life’s natural demands, unexpected changes, or anticipated transitions. She understands how these challenges can impact emotional and physical well-being and offers a safe space for clients to process their experiences. Through counseling, Olivia provides practical coping mechanisms and strategies to help clients manage their stress and reduce anxiety effectively. Her approach emphasizes understanding the root causes of anxiety while equipping clients with tools to build resilience. Olivia’s compassionate guidance empowers clients to face life’s uncertainties with confidence and balance.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is often the modality of choice with issues of anxiety or depression. When the roots of either are found in thought distortions, CBT will be used. At times anxiety and depression might mask deeper concerns such as unmet needs, unspoken pain, frozen anger or other trauma wounds. Family systems, Compassionate Inquiry and CBT are used in these more complex situations.

Trauma, stress, and anxiety are usually caused by specific experiences that we have had, or by the lack of feeling of safety in our family, relationship, or at work. I help clients recover from traumatic events and experiences and develop stronger emotional management skills. Often clients have been put on medications that only mask the problems--please do not stop medications without your doctor's approval, and gradual reduction. There are other ways to calm the nervous system, and I am certified in EMDR (a treatment for post traumatic stress disorder), and other therapeutic techniques to help you with this.

Are you living your life constantly feeling on-edge? Are you a worrier who can't seem to turn it off? Does anxiety or stress keep you from being fully present for your family? As an anxiety and stress specialist, I know rough this can be. But there is hope. Together, we can deploy powerful techniques to get you feeling calm, relaxed, and emotionally thriving, so you can effectively deal with life challenges. Imagine: going about your day feeling excited rather than worried, confident rather than stressed, and focused rather than scattered. If you’re ready to stop worrying and start living, reach out.

Anxiety is debilitating. Finding a way to manage and cope with anxiety rather than having anxiety take control of every part of your life can feel like climbing the highest mountain. While anxiety symptoms may be common, the triggers resulting in anxiety are very individual. Individual counselling can help identify triggers and build coping strategies to cope in healthy ways which will improve your overall mental health.