Stress, PTSD and Anxiety Therapists in Madoc, ON.

Have you been struggling with overthinking, perfectionism, or obsessive behaviour? If you are feeling overwhelmed or are dealing with challenges related to anxious thinking, I can help you make sense of your thoughts. We will work together to create an individualized treatment plan aimed at reducing your anxious thoughts and behaviours and restoring your sense of calm and confidence. Let me help get you back to feeling like yourself again.

I use Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) techniques to help individuals who may experience difficulties with stress and anxiety. This approach allows us to work together to recognize and focus on the habitual responses you might experience and instead approach them from a non-judgmental and accepting stance. Furthermore, MBSR equips you with techniques that can be practiced at any time and carried with you to help manage ongoing anxiety and stress. I also use aspects of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) that focus on education, creating relaxation techniques, identifying and changing negative thinking, and facing your fears.

My approach to anxiety and stress focuses mainly on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, as it is an empirically-tested, evidence-based technique. It includes recognizing and addressing distorted thinking, grounding techniques, mindfulness, maintaining a journal, and self-care. Alongside CBT, we can explore the roots and possible causes of the anxiety. I have had great successes with clients who came to me with anxiety. One client in particular had social anxiety so severe, she would become physically sick, experience awful gastrointestinal issues, and eventually faint when in a social situation. As a result of therapy, her coping skills improved, until her anxiety all but disappeared.

Anxiety and stress create a constant sense of urgency in your mind and body, making it difficult to concentrate, rest, or feel fully present. I draw on ACT, CBT, DBT, IFS, somatic regulation techniques, & narrative therapy to help you understand how anxiety operates & how to work with it effectively. Rather than trying to eliminate anxious thoughts entirely, we develop greater psychological flexibility & skills for managing overwhelming feelings. We practice stepping back from unhelpful thinking patterns, regulating your nervous system, and privileging long-term goals over short-term discomfort. Clients say they feel grounded, capable, and able to move forward when uncertainty is present.

Everyone experiences stress, and stress can be positive motivation to get things done. But when stress escalates it can be experienced as anxiety. Anxiety can arise when we lose touch with our feelings. In an anxious state, our bodies produce cortisol, leaving us in a fight or flight state. I try to help people understand the nature of their stresses and regulate stress through meditative, mindful or breathing practices. We explore the internal experiences – the feelings and emotions that escalate stress into anxiety. Learning to address these feelings gives us tools to deal effectively with challenging feelings, thereby developing a healthy sense of inner awareness and control.

Anxiety is internalized prolonged internal stress. Often people are afraid because they have never owned up to themselves. It is completely understandable with the world we live in today and all the expectations placed on we can often become overwhelmed. It can be a forever on going pressure from anything such as, ageing; being alone; illness losing a job/family member/possession. Things that require action can also be heavy stress factors; relationships; losing weight; intimacy; career. Our inner state of mind; feeling rejected, like a failure; low self-image. Etc. "This is not true you have handled everything up till now". Reaching out for support is the first step to creating change.

I believe that you and I are required to become an expert at dealing with work stress, relational stress, and personal internal stress. We need to be able to have sharp cognitive and emotional skills that other generations just did not require. When people come to me for help we work extensively at developing awareness, stress management and emotional and relational intelligence (IQ). I use a holistic model that incorporates the most clinically proven strategies that produce positive outcomes. If you are motivated you can overcome anxiety, panic and phobia. We have successfully run individual treatment programs for the last twelve years helping people just like you.

Are you experiencing anxiety and stress, often from living in today’s fast-paced, ever-changing social environment? Do you struggle to multi-task and stay focused as you move through the day? Let us work together to lower your stress through various tools that can fit into your busy life. I can help you to incorporate these tools into your life.

Anxiety and stress can keep you from living the life you want to live. I will work with you to explore what may be contributing to (or increasing) your anxiety. We'll also work through strategies to help you feel better able to tolerate difficult emotions. The overall intention is for you to feel in control of your anxiety - not that anxiety is controlling you.

All associates with New Leaf Psychology Centre offer therapy for stress and anxiety. Although the initial treatment approach for anxiety is often Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), treatment is individualized to address your personal situation. Therapy can help you reduce worries, increase your ability to face fears, and allow you to approach life more optimistically. Dr. Strauss specializes in work related stressors, such as overwork, increasing demands, interpersonal challenges with colleagues and management, and career decisions. Dr. Gilani specializes in health related anxieties and stress.

Stress, anxiety, and panic attacks are all too common in our sometimes overwhelming day to day lives: partners, work, children, family and other stressors are constantly pushing us to the breaking point. We also can experience anxiety that seemingly comes out of nowhere, anxiety that seems irrational such as a fear of getting out of the house, shopping, being around people or strange places. I work with my clients to overcome these fears; not only do I help relieve the symptoms with tried and true CBT methods, but I also like to go a bit deeper and look for the causes of anxiety. When these causes are addressed, the anxiety is more likely to go away for good.

It is normal to worry and feel stressed about life's problems and pressures. But when compounded symptoms begin to overwhelm us to the point where we are getting headaches, heart palpitations, a churning stomach, cold sweats, sleepless nights, weight loss, obsessive thoughts, a distressed GI tract - then we need help to break the adrenaline-fear cycle. Anxiety feeds on fear and needs to be confronted, appropriately and safely, with relaxation techniques, new perceptions and constructive thinking patterns. A counsellor can help you do this.

Stress and anxiousness is what we feel when we are trying to handle more than we can. My counselling approach can help you learn to challenge your thoughts and believes, think more realistically about life events and transitions; set clear personal and professional boundaries; (re)establish better balance between your work-school-life obligations; find sufficient time to do the things that really matter to you; have fun and get your life back 'on track' by knowing how to self-care. Approaches utilized: Solution Focused, Cognitive-Behavioural, Psychodynamic and Psychoeducational.