Stress, PTSD and Anxiety Therapists in Florence Graham, CA.

Stress and anxiety play a big role in our lives. We live in an information heavy world, which along with the daily grind of life, can make people feel overwhelmed and anxious. One of the problems is that it isn’t just felt by the person suffering, but by all those around the person as well. That’s why it’s crucial to learn techniques to alleviate your stress. I believe that in order to really work through your anxiety, you need to figure out where it’s coming from and learn your triggers. Reducing your stress will result in better relationships, greater confidence in your abilities, and renewed enjoyment in experiences to just name a few.

Many people feel anxious from time to time. But when feelings of anxiety and stress occur regularly and begin to interfere with your relationships, your social life, your job or other aspects of your life, it is time to consider professional treatment. I help people better understand and manage the physical and psychological effects of stress and anxiety. We will together seek to identify, explore and understand the sources of your anxiety and the thoughts and feelings associated with it, revealing how together we can work to change and resolve the anxious feelings you are experiencing. This resolution will help you feel and function better as you move forward in life. Feel free to call.

The modern world we live in is full of amazing technological advancements and organizational wonders, but it is also more complex and demanding than ever before. The myriad competing demands of our lives, how busy we are, the continual pressure to do and be more creates enormous stress for all of us. This stress can escalate into anxiety and the added strain of these issues easily begins to short-circuit our ability to function at our best, to feel good, to maintain relationships and responsibilities. I can help you understand the internal and external forces creating these negative feelings, and together we can find strategies for minimizing stress and anxiety so you can feel better.

In treating anxiety, the most impotant issues is interupting the cycle of worry, obessing over worry, fearing the return of worry, and allowing worry to spread to every aspect of your life. Discriminating realistic reasons to worry from irrational reasons can help clients with excessive stress to cope. Interupting and redirecting thoughts of anxiety to more productive thoughts and activities will interupt the cycle that creates habitual anxiety. We will look at times you may over-react to triggers (be it an upcoming social situation, or a stumbling block that creates more stress and predictions of failure). We will take this path together. You are not alone.

Stress and anxiety are often the root causes leading to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as addiction and eating disorders. By evaluating triggers for stress and/or anxiety and developing healthy coping strategies (often with cognitive behavioral interventions), patients learn to self regulate and experience significant mood improvement. When necessary, referrals for medications are made as an adjunct to psychotherapy.

Everyone feels anxiety at some point in their lives but when it starts to interfere with your life, counseling can help. Although anxiety can feel debilitating, it is treatable. People with anxiety don’t always share the same symptoms, they vary from person to person. Therapy will help you to reclaim your life and function in a chronically stressful world.

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.

Stress is a part of life...but ongoing anxiety can negatively impact our well-being, including our relationships, jobs, and families. If you suffer from chronic worrying and the stress is just too much, there IS a better way to live. I will not only help you develop stress management techniques that work for you, but I will also help you shift the way you have typically coped with unwanted thoughts and feelings. Moreover, we can work to build self-awareness and insight into the core reasons behind your anxiety, which typically produces longer lasting transformation.

Anxiety is an inability to be fully relaxed. It is mental and physical tension. Many things cause it and many things perpetuate it. Not all anxiety is bad or needs to be extinguished. I work with the client to understand the meaning of their anxiety. I find sometimes people are not consciously aware of the real reasons they cannot feel relaxed. Enlisting the client's sense of curiosity about their own thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations I aim to identify their symptoms of anxiety and the origins of them. I utilize cognitive behavioral and mindfulness strategies to identify and replace unhelpful thoughts with more productive ones.

Anxiety and stress can feel overwhelming, leaving you drained, restless, and unable to focus. In therapy, I provide practical tools to calm the mind, regulate the body, and gain a sense of control. Together, we uncover triggers, challenge unhelpful thought patterns, and develop strategies that bring more peace and resilience into daily life. My approach blends compassion with evidence-based techniques, helping you find balance, reclaim confidence, and restore calm so you can move forward with clarity and strength.

People rarely come to counseling when their anxiety first starts causing them problems. Most people try to handle it on their own and try the “white knuckle” approach until they are exhausted and overwhelmed. Often life becomes unmanageable and depression sets in when anxiety is not dealt with. Anxiety commonly focuses on illogical things that may seem foolish or kind of crazy, so you have kept these to yourself. Don’t keep struggling alone. Call me so I can help you reduce the hold anxiety has on you and restore freedom to live your life fully again. Contact me at 714-751-0888 and I promise I won't think you are crazy.

Abby provides compassionate, trauma-informed support for individuals struggling with anxiety and stress. Using evidence-based techniques such as CBT and mindfulness, she helps clients identify triggers, manage overwhelming emotions, and develop practical coping skills. Abby creates a safe, supportive space where clients can build resilience, improve emotional regulation, and regain a sense of calm and control in their daily lives.

When teens and college students struggle with anxiety, they benefit from a peaceful presence and safe environment that helps them relax. Dr. Parke paces therapy at your level of readiness and helps you to find tools that are helpful for you. Experience more peace of mind and confidence. Rediscover your inner courage and conquer fears that have been holding you back by gradually facing them over time.