Stress, PTSD and Anxiety Therapists in Ottawa, ON.

Anxiety and Stress are both life and living challenges. They are part of the normal obstacles we face in our lifetime, be it in health, in illness, in marriage, in couple and relationship issues, in aging and with our children. The thoughts, feelings and behaviors associated with them can often overwhelm and even paralyze us when they occur. In a supportive and empathic environment I help people understand and demystify these feelings and find coping strategies so that they can overcome these crippling experiences in order to live productively again.

My cross-training in counselling, conflict resolution, mediation and hypnotherapy can be very empowering for clients who come to my practice suffering from anxiety and stress. Unfortunately most people attempt to reduce their stress by choosing a form of pleasure that only leads them into more stress. I remind my clients that they can choose to utilize stress reducing techniques rather than stress increasing choices. Another common symptom is anxiety about becoming anxious again. I teach clients that if they focus on the present moment that this anxiety can be markedly reduced. I teach clients the techniques of getting a good sleep....the most important stress reducing factor.

Most of us talk ourselves into anxiety and stress but we can definitely talk ourselves out of it just as well. By identifying the common mental mistakes behind anxiety and stress, we begin to understand how we talk ourselves into feeling anxious and stressed out. My role as a therapist is to teach clients how to correct those mental mistakes and make replacement thoughts to help us feel the way we may want to feel. Moreover, clients will be learning the different relaxation techniques and practice the ones that work for them best. And, the best part is, clients have learned self counselling skills, that they can use for their lifetime, by the end of therapy!

There’s a lot you can do to manage your stress, but the first thing you need is a break between stressors to give your parasympathetic nervous system a chance to restore your equilibrium. A hot bath or a relaxing book is good or Something much more powerful is necessary: deep relaxation. Deep relaxation is a practice that requires 15 minutes of your time each day. During that 15-minute period, your total concentration is focused on relaxing your body and mind to achieve a state of deep calm. This exercise releases endorphins (the body’s natural opiates), creating an emotional high. Deep relaxation practiced daily strengthens your immune system and reduces your risk of stress-related disea....

Clients struggling with anxiety will benefit from both cognitive behavioral and acceptance and commitment therapy approaches to help them learn to better cope with their emotions. They will learn to manage their stress effectively and problem solve around any psychosocial stressors that might be contributing to their emotional stress.

Helping client's understand what the difference is between stress and anxiety. Helping them identify what is causing them anxiety and what stressors they may be able to eliminate from their lives. Offering clients a variety of strategies to cope with stress and anxiety --- exploring healthy lifestyle habits, work-life balance possibilities, learning to say no and setting appropriate boundaries, self-care, CBT strategies (such as using a thought record), mindfulness strategies (deep breathing exercises and progressive muscle relaxation), etc.

Saint Paul University’s Counselling and Psychotherapy Centre welcomes a diverse clientele, for individual or couple’s therapy. Services are provided by counselling interns at the Master of Arts and Doctoral level in Counselling and Spirituality at Saint Paul University. *Services in French available

Learning how to manage anxiety & deal with the irrational thoughts or distressing behaviours associated with anxiety is an essential first step to recovery. Processing the deeper emotions & meanings associated with past & present day difficult life situations is also important to build a more secure, resilient self that is capable of facing the challenges of everyday life without becoming overwhelmed.

I will support you: to have hope and confidence that you can resolve your anxiety; and to make choices that will lead you to your greater physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. I offer relaxation exercises and cognitive therapy. I am trained in EMDR which greatly helps overcome anxiety, stress and trauma. I offer EFT which also positively shifts our thinking and modifies our anxiety response. I serve adults, & young adults 16 and over and seniors. By acknowledging you have a problem and wanting to find a solution, you are much closer to resolving it. This is your opportunity. I am here to help.

Anxiety and stress can be overwhelming and debilitating. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is very effective in helping people manage and overcome anxiety and stress through changing their patterns of thinking and relating to the world. Within a supportive, therapeutic context, I help clients understand the nature of their anxiety and stress, then empower them to change their feelings through a variety of cognitive behavioral techniques.

For many years I have taught Relaxation and Imagery for anxiety and Stress issues. I have found Mindfulness meditation to be particularly useful to those clients who commit themselves to the process. EMDR [eye movement desensitizing and reprocessing] can also be useful in reducing Anxiety. I work with Generalized Anxiety as well as Social Anxiety. Cognitive/ Behavioral therapy is useful with clients suffering from these issues.

Anxiety and its cousins, fear and panic, have cognitive and emotional components and behavioural manifestations. Clients become skilled in recognizing this negative spiral, where negative thinking reinforces emotional dis-regulation, by challenging this unconscious mechanism with conscious and healthy replacement tools. Clients are ultimately able to live a life of conscious choice in the present.

Dealing with anxiety and stress involves some understanding of the situation and what might be causing or contributing to a problem. Often it will be the unique way in which we think about something said to be our automatic thoughts and from there we learn to evaluate them for any sign of distortion. Our thoughts for example, may come across as catastrophizing or seeing only the worst in an event which will naturally lead to anxiety/stress. In counselling we can gain some valuable insight and achieve greater awareness learning to step back examining with a different lens and therefore expanding our perspective. This serves to allow for a more enlightened thought or mood to emerge.