Stress, PTSD and Anxiety Therapists in Balgonie, SK.

I am a registered psychologist (provisional) in the province of Saskatchewan. My approach to counselling is eclectic, humanistic and collaborative. I use strategies from many theories such as client-centered, solution-focused, CBT, DBT, and evidence-based strategies for long-term weight loss. You are a unique individual and together we will discover what works best for you!

I am dedicated to creating a safe and non-judgmental space for individuals to delve into their emotions and find ways to achieve balance, healing, peace, and the courage to embrace change. My goal is to provide support and guidance to help people navigate life's challenges and discover their inner strength. By offering a reassuring environment, I aim to empower individuals to explore their emotions, confront their fears, and embark on a journey of personal growth. Together, we can work towards finding solutions, developing coping mechanisms, and fostering resilience. With the right tools and support, individuals can transform their lives and embrace positive change.

Our minds and bodies are so strongly connected that stress and anxiety can wreak havoc on our physical and mental health. Counselling provides tools such as cognitive and behavioral coping strategies and the use of tools such as relaxation and self hypnotic suggestion to manage stress and anxiety. One on one counselling and group education workshops are available.

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.

All mental health problems may be categorized as anxiety & stress or depression so the category is broad. We will first look at the cause. Does your anxiety stem from a fear of discovery of your sex addiction? Or does it stem from trauma, abuse or sexual misconduct further back in your life? Are you afraid your partner is sexually compulsive? If stress reduction requires psychotherapy, guided imagery or hypnotherapy to discover the trauma behind perfectionism, eating or personality disorders like anorexia or OCD, we will approach that from a place of safety. We will help you put boundaries on those encroaching on your mental health or safety and learn new strategies for grounding and peac

I use Acceptance Commitment Therapy as main frame of intervention to assist clients in managing stress and anxiety. We focus on the drivers to stress and anxiety and how to manage them. I use a holistic approach in treatment focusing on medical intervention and life style changes to assist in the healing process. ACT has two major goals: (a) actively accepting unwanted and perhaps uncontrollable thoughts and feelings and (b) commitment and action towards goals that are aligned with one’s chosen values. Six core processes of ACT are used to increase psychological flexibility. These include, - Cognitive defusion, Acceptance, Contact with the present moment, Self as context and Values.

Cristina explores with you what relaxation techniques and lifestyle changes are suitable for you to cope better with anxiety and stress. Today we cannot avoid stress but we can learn to better cope with stress and how to relax. She will help you find your own relaxation strategies and figure out when it works best for you to take time and relax. Cristina's mindfulness approach will help you build confidence in your ability to cope with anxiety and stress by recognizing and understanding the fight-flight-freeze response.

Are you living your life constantly feeling on-edge? Are you a worrier who can't seem to turn it off? Does anxiety or stress keep you from being fully present for your family? As an anxiety and stress specialist, I know rough this can be. But there is hope. Together, we can deploy powerful techniques to get you feeling calm, relaxed, and emotionally thriving, so you can effectively deal with life challenges. Imagine: going about your day feeling excited rather than worried, confident rather than stressed, and focused rather than scattered. If you’re ready to stop worrying and start living, reach out.

The Narrative approach looks at the story behind anxiety and stress. What is happening in life and how do you relate to those events? I navigate with you, as we discover the inner strength and ways in which you can deal with how anxiety invades your life and allow you to write a different story. I can also introduce some well researched techniques that, depending on the individual, help to reduce stress and anxiety in life, and/or allow you to move forward in spite of those feelings.

Anxiety and stress are inevitable in today's world. I work with each client to determine their thought patterns and stressors and help them to develop the skills to navigate life's ups and downs. Whether you are looking for a diagnosis, and understanding of anxiety/stress, or are wanting to build skills to deal with what you are facing, I am happy to help you build a plan that meets your needs.

There is no "one size fits all" treatment. Treatment options are explored and tailored to meet your needs. Counseling assists to develop self awareness and practical techniques for creating positive change and experiences. Approaches include interpersonal counseling, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, mindfulness-based and strength-based, client centered counseling.

Anxiety and stress can be intrusive and upset our lives to a terrible level. We will work to uncover your self-talk that takes you down the path of anxiety. By shifting your self-talk, you can reduce anxiety tremendously. We can problem-solve your stressors and in this way reduce their impact on you and your life. Developing strategies to help balance your life experience, along with effective self-talk, will balance your life. Strategies I work with are: journaling, meditation, mindfulness, movement, etc. Building trusting connections also helps to reduce anxiety and stress. Having personal support is important to our human nature and well-being.

Anxiety and stress therapy offer profound benefits, providing a supportive environment to explore and manage overwhelming emotions. Through evidence-based techniques and personalized interventions, therapy helps individuals understand the root causes of their anxiety and stress. Clients develop practical coping strategies, techniques, and exercises to effectively manage symptoms. Therapy develops self-awareness, empowering individuals to challenge negative thought patterns and cultivate resilience in the face of adversity. By addressing underlying issues, anxiety and stress focused counselling promotes emotional well-being and reduces the impact of anxiety and stress.

I don't believe there are many of us who would say we haven't experienced anxiety or stress at some point in our lives. There is "good" anxiety - preparing for an exam or presentation. Here the anxiety serves a purpose...it keeps us keen and on our toes. And there is "bad" anxiety - it debilitates us to the point where we are unable to fully be ourselves...afraid to leave the house...panic attacks, etc. It's the "bad" anxiety that can knock us to our knees. Learning how to cope and manage our anxieties is something that I am passionate about since I know first hand what it feels like to be overcome by them. I can teach you strategies to help you live your life on your own terms.

Do you frequently feel overwhelmed by the demands of your day to day existence? Are racing thoughts or persistent negative worries dominating your thinking? These experiences could be indicative of anxiety and stress. It's essential to recognize these signs and take proactive steps towards managing them. In counselling, we will explore your unique situation. Together, we'll address the following questions: Is anxiety driving your stress? Are external stressors exacerbating your anxiety? Our goal is to develop a personalized plan to manage both your stress and anxiety effectively by using evidence based therapy such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or Solution Focused Therapy.

Because I have personally struggled with the challenges of anxiety, I realize how truly overwhelming anxiety conditions may become. Anxiety can range from having performance or test anxiety or being a "worry-wart" to the debilitating effects of panic attacks. My approach to assisting people suffering from symptoms of anxiety is to consider the biopsychosocial model of human functioning. That is, considering how our thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations and interpersonal relationships affect our experience. Strategies are based on providing assistance and support to manage undesirable thoughts, overwhelming emotions, and intolerable sensations.

Stress is unfortunately an unpleasant fact in our busy world and people often have too many things on their plates. Counselling can help by offering a safe place to debrief and sort through things. You can get assistance to develop a self-care plan that will provide an outlet for the stressors as well as a way to prevent the stress from building up initially. Having a self-care plan that you are committed to can lessen or prevent anxiety, which can have very negative impacts on one’s life. Relaxation exercises, guided visualisations and other strategies can be taught and practiced during the counselling sessions so that you may have concrete tools to use.

Therapeutic strategies that increase acceptance of one's life circumstances, and the thoughts that clog up one's mind, and the struggle with symptoms that promotes avoidance will lead to increased psychological flexibility. Acceptance allows the anxious individual to observe those thoughts or emotional experiences that are most problematic rather than being tethered to them. It is only through acceptance that one can gain distance and perspective, and even if the problematic thoughts remain they do not have to lead to avoidant behaviours that restrict one's life. This allows for the mindful actions that will lead to a healthy and meaningful life.