Stress, PTSD and Anxiety Therapists in Ladysmith, BC.

Everyone reacts differently to stress and there can be variance depending on what the stress stimulus is! Knowing how you respond can be helpful when learning to cope with stress or anxiety. Fight, flight, freeze, and appease are types of responses that are reactive to stress and anxiety. Flight response includes avoiding situations, people, or thoughts. Those who react with fight tend to feel frustrated and irritable. This can look like bursts of anger or resistance to situations and people. Those who freeze tend to shut down, feel like they are disconnected from themselves or the world, or feel stuck in the stressful situation. Therapy can help mitigate some of these responses.

I approach anxiety counseling with a professional and evidence-based methodology, ensuring that you receive the utmost quality of care. Drawing from a robust background in psychology, education, and therapy, I am well-prepared to navigate the intricacies of anxiety and its impact on your life. While anxiety is a natural response to stress, I recognize that, for some, it can become overwhelming and disruptive. It may manifest in various forms, such as generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, panic disorder, or specific phobias. Together we will implement proved techniques to relieve you of the anxiety that is impacting your well-being.

We live in stressful times and often the day-to-day demands of dealing with challenges at home and in the workplace begin to overwhelm us. Counselling can help to prevent problems with mental health by providing a place to talk through the stressors that bother us, resolve internal conflicts, and develop the skills to set limits and create boundaries with others. I use a variety of approaches in therapy to help you manage stress and resolve the symptoms of anxiety. Anxiety is a disorder that comes in many forms. I specialize in helping people resolve Generalized Anxiety (GAD); Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD); Phobias and medical procedure anxiety.

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 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.

Our clients consistently share high rates of anxiety, worry, stress and overwhelm. We understand that these states can profoundly impact the nervous system. Our team will work to understand the context of these things (what are they in response to?) and provide insight and interventions to best support individuals and families. Our therapists provide individualized support including EMDR.

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.