THERAPY for ANXIETY IN FLOWOOD
You don’t have to make yourself fit into someone else’s vision of who you should be.
YOU’RE NOT WHERE YOU THOUGHT YOU’D BE BY NOW.
You want more out of life than surviving and trying to hold everything together. Maybe this is the first time you’re looking for a counselor or maybe you’ve been in and out of therapy for years. You’ve tried all the things – podcasts, working out, breathing exercises, and self-care. Some of it helped, most of it didn’t. You want answers. You want your life, your feelings, your relationships to make sense.
Perhaps your family life during your childhood or teen years was rocky. Maybe you had to grow up fast, and you’ve felt the weight of the world on you for a long time. Today, you find yourself apologizing for crying because you worry people will think you’re too sensitive or too emotional.
You’re TIRED OF:
Taking care of everyone else and putting yourself on the backburner
Wondering if you’re the problem and walking on eggshells
Feeling like you’re sliding into a dark hole
Waiting for the other shoe to drop
Looking like you have it together on the outside and feeling like a mess on the inside
Making yourself small and trying to hide your feelings
Trying to move on from things that happened in the past
Maybe YOU FEEL A LITTLE SILLY FOR WANTING COUNSELING.
You tell yourself that you should be happy and grateful because there are other people who have it so much worse.
But you want to have a space to tell your story and feel seen and understood. You’ve wanted to do this for a long time, and now you’re finally in a place where you can take care of yourself a little. You have things from your past that you need to make sense of before you can move forward.
How I can help
You’ve probably been trying to make anxious or sensitive parts go away or be quiet (and I don’t blame you).
But trying to silence or get rid of certain parts of yourself isn’t a great long-term solution—believe it or not, they are giving you good information. Together, we’ll try a different approach: getting to know these parts and caring for them so they no longer take over or cause problems.
If you’ve spent time swimming in the ocean, you might know something about riptides. My philosophy when dealing with emotions is similar to how you would survive a riptide. If you try to fight the riptide, you exhaust yourself. But if you stay calm and swim with the current, you have the best chance of getting back to shore. You’ve just never had anyone show you how to swim with the currents of your emotions.
Depending on your needs, we may pull from some of these methods:
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This work focuses on how thoughts, feelings, behavior, and events are connected in a loop. We’ll identify where these show up in your life and how they impact you.
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Sometimes called “parts work”, IFS is a powerful tool for reducing internal conflict. It provides a pathway for showing yourself the same grace and compassion you typically give to others and allows you to access the most objective, adult parts of your brain.
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We’ll gradually work on building your emotional regulation skills and incorporating these new tools into your life.
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This is where we take what you’ve learned in the earlier stages and help your brain put it all together.
THERAPY FOR ANXIETY CAN HELP YOU:
Develop insight into the deeper roots of the challenges you’re facing
Break out of automatic patterns that keep you feeling stuck in the past
Focus on yourself instead of being the perpetual peacekeeper, caretaker, or responsible one
Prioritize your needs and believe your feelings matter too
Feel comfortable being fully yourself without making yourself and your voice small
Extend grace and kindness to yourself the way you do other people
Feel like you’re living instead of just surviving
Discover a happier version of yourself—someone who feels hope and has dreams to chase.
FAQs
COMMON QUESTIONS
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That’s great! It means you have positive resources that we can tap into. Maybe the happy moments have just gotten weighed down by baggage or blocked by bumps in the road. If you had a relatively safe and happy childhood, then working on recent events will go more quickly.
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The short answer is it depends on a combination of factors – if you’ve been in therapy before, your specific issues, and your goals. Most people begin to experience some relief in the first few weeks because it feels good to finally start taking action. Over time small, gradual changes will build momentum and lead to lasting change. The average length of therapy needed to resolve a simple issue is about 4-6 months. Sometimes that’s all people need. Other times they choose to set new goals and continue our work together.
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If what you’re going through is negatively impacting your life, relationships, sleep, or work, counseling can help.
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If you think I would be a great fit for someone in your life, I would love for you to share my website and contact information with them! However, I only make appointments with the person who wants counseling. I’ve found over the years, if someone needs to be pressured or pushed into going to counseling, it might be a sign they’re not yet ready for change.
Of course, if you have an older teen (16-19) that’s different, and I’m happy to schedule appointments with a parent in those cases.
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If you’ve previously worked with a therapist, you may already have learned some coping skills or how to identify the connection between thoughts, emotions, and triggers. We can use that foundation and insight to help you make lasting changes.