Stress, PTSD and Anxiety Therapists in West Point Grey, BC.

Anxiety is a kind of stage fright. It stems from trying to control what can't be controlled: the future, other people, the outcomes of some of our efforts. Because anxiety is so uncomfortable, we often want to avoid facing what’s stirring it up. We may even feel embarrassed or ashamed that we’re anxious. Counselling provides a supportive environment that helps you talk about your anxiety and find better ways of managing it. Feeling connected to another person helps you steady yourself. Counselling provides strategies for handling anxiety in the moment. It also looks at how relationships in your past are contributing to the reactions you’re having now so you can make changes for the better.

Anxiety, panic, and stress often show up as tension or unpleasant physical sensations in the body as fear and other emotions are held back. Trauma, relationship problems, losses, and attachment issues are often the hidden source of emotional pain. To resolve anxiety and panic, I use a mind-body approach which integrates cognitive, emotional, and body sensing techniques to get curious about and resolve the true underlying issues.

The world keeps pushing harder and faster. Are you having a hard time keeping up? Are you exhausted at the end of the day? And does your mind just keep on racing? Chronic stress can deplete your natural defenses, which may lead to long term physical and mental health problems. Stop trying to just survive. Phone 604-468-7300 now and let me help you thrive again. I help individuals with stress, anxiety, panic attacks, trauma, and so much more.

Anxiety is more common in our daily lives than ever before. Anxiety functions in a way that is unexpected and sometimes debilitating. I use a holistic and informed approach to treat clients who are experiencing anxiety as I believe that it is a mind and body problem. I can help you recognize your triggers, get control of your body's responses to stress and change the outcome of even the most stressful and scary moments. Together we can help you get control of your anxiety and manage the stressors in your life. Contact me to start making changes today.

I support individuals tunderstand and cope with anxiety. The underlying purpose of anxiety is to keep an individual safe and away from harm. Due to complex mechanisms that influence the nervous system, individuals develop stress responses that can be adaptive strategies in the moment but become maladaptive over time, no longer serving one’s best interest. There may be many triggers that can generate overwhelming levels of anxiety in an individual that can difficult to cope with. I use CBT to help clients rewire their nervous system, reframe their belief system, recognize negative automatic thoughts and their generation stemming from critical incidents in childhood.

While our bodies are perfectly designed to adapt and react to stress, modern problems mean that we tend to detect life threatening dangers in very ordinary places. Conflicts at work, arguments in our relationships and uncertainties such as the post-Covid world activate old survival mechanisms. We may be stuck in the buzzing, fear states of ‘fight-flight’ or the numb and paralyzed states of ‘freeze and shut down.’ The good news is that I have a long history of safely and successfully helping individuals and couples to reduce and release stress using a variety of CBT and mindfulness techniques, as well as trauma-informed therapy. You have my commitment to compassionate and educated care.

Most of my clients over the past twenty plus years have dealt with some form of anxiety and stress. There are many helpful approaches to managing these such as mindfulness and breath awareness, but I have found that often the greatest healing comes from learning to trust one's self and the process of life. Listening to one's deepest self and learning to express one's truth verbally or creatively, may also help the person transform their anxiety and live with greater energy and joy. As with most issues, each individual is unique, as is the approach that is called for.

I primarily work with anxiety from an EMDR/body-based perspective. Anxiety is a very "old" physiological response, in that there are parts of anxiety that are unconscious rather than "cognitive." I typically find that if we only attend to the cognitive side of anxiety, the physiological parts, such as body memory and activation, will find somewhere else to pop up. By working on the physical activation, we can better address and move through the anxiety.

Everyone has anxiety and stress in their life! It is important to evaluate where the majority of it comes from and discover ways to cope at times that are difficult and challenging. It is also critical to recognize when anxiety and stress is past a point that is manageable. Some treatment methods I would use would be grounding techniques, meditation, and Socratic questioning. These techniques would be used to figure out the root cause of the anxiety and stress and also to help determine the cause. Other strategies that may be applied include journalling, incorporating exercise, and other activities to help manage both the anxiety and stress.

Exhausted? Worried all the time? Stress and Anxiety issues can effect all facets of our life. Counselling can provide clients with a safe environment to explore the issues creating the stress and anxiety in their life. Learn techniques to minimize stress and to cope with the major stress life throws at us. Counselling can provide support and assistance to take control of our anxiety and to move forward in a more positive fashion. Call to discuss how counselling can help you.

Anxiety and stress are among the most common concerns that people seek counselling for. Sometimes people find themselves in anxiety-provoking circumstances for which immediate, short-term counselling interventions are appropriate and effective (for example, preparing for a performance or exam). Others may find that their anxiety is chronic and invades almost every aspect of their life. In this case, I offer a counselling perspective that considers deeper issues that might be feeding the anxiety. Whether you experience anxiety as situational or chronic, it is possible to learn how to tame your anxiety and enjoy greater peace, confidence, and a sense of calm in your life.

Everyone experiences anxiety and stress at times. If anxiety and stress persist over a long period of time, and interferes with your daily life, you may have an anxiety disorder. Therapy can provide you with a safe space to help find relief and give you tools to move forward with your life. As a therapist, I will support you as you develop new skills, thinking patterns, and improve self esteem.

Feelings of anxiety can become so intense that it becomes overwhelming. Often individuals struggling with anxiety express constant intruding thoughts that focus on fears of events of the future. Anxiety can create physical feelings of distress like a tight chest that makes it difficult to breath, an upset or tight feeling in the stomach, and general fatigue from constantly trying to control their thoughts and actions. Some people have battled anxiety for so long that they begin to believe it is just who they are and accept the restrictions it causes in their life. Through counselling we will work to break the cycle of anxiety controlling your inner world. Bringing a sense of relief, control and freedom that has been absent for so long.

Anxiety as a result of stress is one of, if not the major contributing factor to poor health in most areas of people lives. If you have ever been tense before an exam or a visit to the dentist, you have a felt anxiety. Increased heart rate, sweating, rapid breathing, dry mouth, & a sense of dread are common. Changing this involves cognitive & behavioural approaches. Cognitive change is understanding how thoughts contribute to symptoms and how to change thought patterns to reduce the intensity of your anxiety. And behavioral changes involve using techniques to reduce or stop any undesired behaviors that are a result of the anxiety you have been experiencing.

One of the most most successful approaches to helping my clients cope with anxiety, is helping them understand anxiety itself and the overall awareness of how it psychologically and psychologically affects us all individually. It is then I will be be able to introduce several cognitive behavioral interventions so that my clients may learn better coping mechanisms to help manage their anxieties.

Angela understands that most everyone can relate to having felt some degree of anxiety or stress in their life. In fact, some anxiety & stress comes along with positive experiences or helps us to meet our goals. However, if anxiety or stress has been impacting your day to day functioning, Angela would like to help you gain confidence to cope with your thoughts/feelings and choices that may be impacting regular sleep patterns, regular/healthy eating, physical health, performance at work/school, relationships with others, perception of yourself or your overall ability to cope. Call today for your free consultation-no obligations

Heightened stress or anxiety is so common in our society that sometimes we fear that without the adrenaline rushing through our bodies, we would suffer from extreme boredom or worse, fall into a deep, dark depression. Unfortunately, the stress response that protects us in times of extreme danger actually harms us when left to run rampant. Finding safe, healthy ways to ‘self-soothe’ will increase physical health & also free you to enjoy your life more fully. Since we have absolutely no power to control anyone but ourselves & nothing but the present moment, decreasing our ‘stress response’ frees up energy that can be put into significant relationships & activities that bring life to us.

Anxiety and stress take a hold on you and never let go, leaving you trapped and frozen. I help my clients to learn all about the magic of mindfulness practice. It's one of the most effective ways to put you in control of your emotions, rather than them controlling you. Imagine how great it would be to have an internal place of peace and serenity that you can use at any time to relax and become grounded. Mindfulness is an ancient practice that is also supported by scientific empirical studies. It's one of the best ways to change your life.

Do you find yourself worrying about whether you locked the front door,even though you know that you checked it three times? Do you feel your palms sweating and your heart racing, with an impending sense of doom as a sense panic washes over you? These are both forms of anxiety, that sense that the world is not a safe place and worry and concern over the future. Together we will work together to improve your sense of well being, decrease your anxiety and release you from the need to devote energy and brain space to safety behaviours.

Anxiety and stress can be the first signs that something is off that we need to respond to in our lives. They can snowball until they have power over us: their impulses conflicting with our greater needs. They can also be signs of deeper issues that are unique to each of our lives. Our personalities, senses of self, life histories, and individual understandings of the world all play a role; as do our nervous systems and embodied patterns of how we generate and resolve anxious feelings. Together we’ll collaborate to get every part of you on your team, aligned with the direction you want to take as as a whole.

Anxiety can create fears, threat safety, clients need to recognise their stress levels, their coping skills, and how their respond to stress. My treatment plan involves searching ways to help clients talk through strategies for comprehending and coping with anxiety. Understanding how they regulate their emotions when faced with stress and discovering the underlying issues behind the anxiety, is vital to the healing process.

Is anxiety taking over your life? Let's work together to help you learn the skills and access the knowledge that you already have to make a positive change in your life. I will work with you using an approach that is suited to your unique needs. I can give you tools and to help you get to the life you want. I have worked with clients using cognitive behavioural therapy, solution focused therapy, acceptance & commitment therapy and mindfulness techniques. You are a person who is living with anxiety, not an anxious person. Anxiety does not define you, but it is possible to learn to cope with it. If you want a more fulfilling life, then call me and let's make that life possible.

I approach anxiety counseling with a professional and evidence-based methodology, ensuring that you receive the utmost quality of care. Drawing from a robust background in psychology, education, and therapy, I am well-prepared to navigate the intricacies of anxiety and its impact on your life. While anxiety is a natural response to stress, I recognize that, for some, it can become overwhelming and disruptive. It may manifest in various forms, such as generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, panic disorder, or specific phobias. Together we will implement proved techniques to relieve you of the anxiety that is impacting your well-being.

Anxiety and Stress can be related to a number of things going on in our lives at a given time. Typically it is how we perceive the stressors in our life, or the feeling that we don't have the resources to cope that determines whether or not we feel anxious, stressed, or overwhelmed. If we are unable to get into a RECOVERY zone, anxiety and stress can quickly seem to spin out of control and EVERYTHING may feel too hard. I use Cognitive and Behavioural, Mindfulness, and Ego State therapies to help individuals quickly acquire the tools, and insights that help them reduce the Anxiety symptoms and navigate their anxiety triggers. Moreover, they regain a sense of calm and control in their lives.

We will go over situations that result in the client feeling anxious, what their thoughts are in those moments when they are anxious and their behaviour as a result. We will look at challenging negative thoughts into realistic thoughts and gradual exposure exercises when there are fears that are getting in the way. We will go over psycho-education about anxiety.