Anxiety is a physiological experience rooted in the nervous system. It’s the body’s threat-detection system working overtime. For some, anxiety is genetic. For others, anxiety developed as a way to survive stress, uncertainty, trauma, or overwhelm. For many, it’s a combination of the two.
In therapy, we move away from blaming or battling anxiety, and instead work toward understanding it, softening its grip, and helping your nervous system feel safer.
Therapy for Anxiety in Duncan, BC and Online Across Canada
Types of anxiety
Anxiety can take many forms, and people often experience more than one type at the same time.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
GAD is characterized by ongoing, excessive worry that feels difficult to control. It may show up as constant “what if” thinking, muscle tension, restlessness, irritability, difficulty sleeping, or a sense of always being on edge. For many, GAD has both biological and environmental roots.
Panic Disorder
Panic attacks can feel sudden and terrifying — racing heart, shortness of breath, dizziness, chest tightness, or a fear of losing control or dying. Panic disorder isn’t dangerous, but it feels dangerous in the body. Over time, fear of having another panic attack can lead to avoidance and increased restriction.
Social Anxiety
Social anxiety involves an intense fear of judgment, rejection, or being perceived negatively by others. It often includes self-monitoring, people-pleasing, or replaying interactions long after they’ve ended. This form of anxiety is frequently connected to earlier relational experiences or shame.
Health Anxiety
Health anxiety can involve persistent fears about illness, bodily sensations, or medical outcomes, even when reassurance has been given. It often reflects a nervous system that doesn’t feel safe inside the body and is constantly scanning for signs of danger.
Trauma-Related Anxiety
For some people, anxiety is rooted in past trauma or chronic stress. In these cases, the nervous system may remain stuck in a state of hypervigilance — always alert, braced, or preparing for the worst — even when the present moment is relatively safe.
How anxiety might show up
Anxiety doesn’t always look like worry alone. It can include:
Racing or looping thoughts
Chronic tension, tightness in the chest, jaw, or stomach
Gastrointestinal symptoms, dizziness
Restlessness or inability to relax
Fatigue from being “on” all the time
Difficulty concentrating or making decisions
Irritability or emotional overwhelm
What does therapy for anxiety look like?
Because anxiety is both physiological and psychological, therapy works best when it addresses the whole system.
My approach is gentle, collaborative, and trauma-informed. Depending on your needs, our work may include:
Nervous system regulation and somatic approaches: helping your body learn that it is safe enough to settle
Trauma-informed therapy when anxiety is linked to past experiences, chronic stress or trauma
Parts-based work (IFS-informed therapy) to understand anxious parts without trying to eliminate them
Psychoeducation to reduce fear of anxiety itself and build trust in your body
Cognitive-behavioural therapy: addressing cognitive distortions and working on behavioural activation and exposure
Practical tools and pacing strategies that support daily functioning without pushing or overriding your limits
When appropriate, I also support clients in collaborating with medical providers around medication or further assessment.
“Perhaps the biggest tragedy of our lives is that freedom is possible, yet we can pass our years trapped in the same old patterns . . . We may want to love other people without holding back, to feel authentic, to breathe in the beauty around us, to dance and sing. Yet each day we listen to inner voices that keep our life small.”
— Tara Brach
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