Online Anxiety therapists in Stratford-upon-Avon, England ENG, United Kingdom UK

Anxiety is essentially rooted in a heightened state of vigilance and tension. We have 'forgotten' how to let go. Here's a simple example. When we cross a busy road or drive a car we need to be extra vigilant and aware of our surroundings. We don't need that same level of attention when sitting comfortably at home, yet somehow it is still there. By bringing this habitual tension into conscious awareness and exploring its origins, we can help your nervous system rediscover how to unwind and embrace life fully.  

Strategies to mitigate anxiety and understand this state of being.  

Anxiety is extreme worry or apprehension which is a normal reaction to an extremely stressful situation. However if anxiety is characterised by physical changes such as increased blood pressure or rapid heart beat or recurring intrusive fearful thoughts or concerns it can lead to serious mental health issues.  

I have personally experienced my own anxiety and fears and I currently help my clients to explore and understand their anxiety, it’s worries, overthinking as well as helping them to put strategies in place, bring compassion into their lives and create a pathway into the future.  

Anxiety can affect any of us and is often a misuse of our imagination. Helping you to identify what your subconscious messages are that are causing your anxiety can alleviate much or all of the discomfort. As IFS says, there are no bad parts, even anxiety is there trying to help, it might just be that it needs some guidance or reassurance and a new set of beliefs to attach itself to.  

I am a Psycho-Spiritual Counsellor offering bespoke services using a combination of holistic and complementary intervention to help tackle anxieties and fears utilising a combination of hypnosis and meditation by addressing your physical and psychological responses that triggered the threat system into hyperactivity.  

We can experience anxiety in a variety of different ways - we may suffer from panic attacks, obsessive thoughts, unrelenting worries, or phobias. Therapy can help to alleviate anxiety in different ways by understanding what lies beneath it and adjusting our behavioural responses to it accordingly. Anxiety is a very common mental health disorder and affects many, many people. Talking therapy can help us to learn different strategies to manage our anxiety and move away from feeling helpless or hopeless.  

Anxiety and Fear covers a spectrum of disorders and I have helped clients who have experienced such concerns ranging from the most severe psychotic paranoia to panic, worry and intrusive thoughts. I do not believe there is a good or bad, right or wrong, better or worse label in these comparisons rather each person has their own experience of what they are going through and to learn to alleviate those difficulties is what I work to do.  

Anxiety can show up in many different ways, from persistent worry and overthinking to panic, self-doubt, difficulty relaxing, or a constant sense of being on edge. While anxiety can feel overwhelming, it often develops for understandable reasons and may be connected to past experiences, relationships, responsibilities, or ways of coping that have become stretched beyond their limits. Together, we can explore what may be contributing to your anxiety, develop a deeper understanding of your emotional experience, and build practical ways of responding that support greater confidence, calm, and self-trust.  

We will provide you with Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction techniques and tools to help you to manage and reduce your levels of Anxiety, Phobias and Fears. We also provide Hypnotherapy sessions to reduce and release your anxiety, stress, worries and fears, and sometimes a combination of the two.  

Anxiety isn’t who you are—it’s a part of you trying to keep you safe. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by racing thoughts, constant worry, or fear that won’t let go, it can be exhausting. Anxiety often comes from parts of us that learned to stay hyper-alert to avoid pain or danger. Through Internal Family Systems (IFS) and somatic practices like TRE, I help you gently connect with these protective parts and the deeper wounds they may be guarding. Together, we’ll create space for calm, clarity, and a deeper sense of internal safety—so you can move through life with more ease and trust.  

People struggle with anixety and fear due to unconscious processes in the brain. In looking at the underlying issues people are struggling with can we affect change to peoples overall sense of wellbeing and alleviate any anxiety.  

Anxiety can feel like it’s running the show, and it doesn’t have to. I help you tune into the unconscious patterns behind your fears, so you can stop feeling controlled by them and start feeling in charge of your life. With the right tools and understanding, you can break free. If you're ready to move past anxiety, reach out now.  

For people who have never suffered from anxiety it is almost impossible to describe how debilitating the symptoms can be. It can seem as if there is no escape from the pain and discomfort; it feels like life will be like this forever and that the symptoms can’t be helped. Conventional approaches to anxiety seek to medicate. Many physicians may tell you that your anxiety is something you just have to live with.  Counseling or mainstream psychological approaches may have you manipulate or change your thought patterns, while alternative practices may seek to have you relax or practice mindfulness.  While there is value in some of these approaches, most fail to reach that deeper understanding of the underlying cause of anxiety and panic. Symptoms of anxiety and panic are not the same as emotions of fear – these include worry, nervous, apprehension, concern, etc. In everyday life we tend to talk about anxiety symptoms and conditions as being the same as emotions of fear, nervousness and worry. This is confusing for the simple reason that anxiety symptoms are not merely amplified fear, even though this can be what they feel like in many instances. Anxiety is something of an umbrella term that covers quite a wide range of symptoms and experiences. In some instances this symptoms and conditions might relate to emotions of fear but in other instances they do not. This is why it is entirely possible to rid ourselves of anxiety symptoms whereas we cannot, and should not try to rid ourselves of healthy emotions, because they play a vital feedback role in our day to day experience of life. These are the anxiety conditions: - anxious apprehension (worry, rumination) - generalised anxiety disorder (free floating anxiety) - Intense anxiety and panic attacks - obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) - phobias of all kinds including agoraphobia and social phobia - eating disorders - derealisation - depersonalisation There is an enormous amount of scientific evidence to show that various regions of the brain are either over active or dysfunctional when anxiety symptoms are present. One of the most salient issues pertaining to this kind of scientific research is that different types of anxiety symptoms correspond with different areas of brain dysfunction.The forebrain appears to be the area most affected in most anxiety disorders. This is the largest portion of the brain and includes the cerebral hemispheres, the limbic system, the thalamus and hypothalamus, amygdala and the corpus callosum. Each of the brain hemispheres is divided into four lobes: frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal. Collectively, the forebrain functions to control cognitive, sensory and motor function, regulate temperature, reproductive functions, eating, sleeping and the display of emotions. When it becomes dysfunctional it is evident that the range of symptoms can be enormous.Recent studies using electroencephalographic (EEG) methods have found that patients diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder had heightened activity in the left brain regions, whereas patients with panic disorder, panic symptoms or those subjected to high stress situations exhibited enhanced activity in the right hemisphere. The important lesson from this type of research is that anxiety conditions are not all the same and therefore each case needs to be approached and treated depending on the needs of the individual and the types of symptoms present.  However, we must also be mindful that over activity or dysfunction in brain regions is not the cause of anxiety – rather this activity is caused and supported by the 4 core element model outlined below.  It is these 4 Anchors that trigger brain dysfunction, and it is only by fully addressing these that a complete cessation of symptoms is achieved. The first step is to understand the nature, structure and cause of anxiety, and then we can begin to address the cause of the symptoms. Within our culture we use the words ‘anxious’ and ‘anxiety’ to mean both the emotion of fear and a varied and debilitating set of symptoms. This can be extremely confusing since fear, in the form of worry, nervous, scared, or dread, is often very different from the symptoms of anxiety or a panic disorder. I would argue that even though many anxiety symptoms can feel like fear, it’s also the case that many anxiety and panic symptoms do not feel like fear (see Anxiety Symptoms Checklist below). This means that is possible to experience anxiety symptoms without being afraid of anything. Even though anxiety can be related to the emotion of fear at a deep unconscious level, there are many instances when symptoms of anxiety are present and there is no evidence of the emotion of fear. Most sufferers of anxiety will experience fear about the symptoms; though fear of symptoms is not the cause of symptoms.  Fear can exacerbate symptoms and make sufferers of anxietyfeel significantly worse; however it is rarely, if ever, the underlying cause. So what causes anxiety symptoms? The first step is to embrace the notion that symptoms are feedback from body and brain.  Symptoms are not some nasty evil invader trying to make us suffer, they have reason for existing and that reason is to let us know that something is not right, something is blocked and out of balance. There are Four Core Elements that lock anxiety symptoms in place. When we address these four core elements, we not only banish anxiety symptoms, we open up to the possibility of experiencing ourselves in a whole new way. The 4 core energy-flow model comprises: - FEAR & AVOIDANCE OF SYMPTOMS. Anxiety is deeply uncomfortable so it can be a natural reaction to avoid situations and events that seem to cause anxiety. Avoidance can lead to more symptoms, so carefully navigating through this is the first step. - REWIRING THE EMOTIONAL SYSTEM. Our emotion has a massive impact on body and brain. Blockages and imbalances within the emotional system are significant causes and contributors to anxiety conditions as well as a huge range of other chronic health challenges. Yet, our understanding of the nature of emotion and how to effectively process and regulate it remain poor. This element focuses in revealing the true nature of emotion and critically how to connect with it and facilitate a flow. - WEARING A MASK: As we move through life and seek to get along, fit in, be accepted and do well, we unconsciously block our true nature and end up being more of who we are not than who we are. Anxiety symptoms often tell us when we are covering up who we are, or are disconnected from our authentic core. Reconnecting with our core and removing the shackles of who we used to be takes us a step closer to being anxiety free. - CONTROL & CREATION: Whether we like it or not, we play a significant role in the creation of our experience of life and reality. However, when shackled with anxiety we feel out of control, restricted as if we have lost our freedom. Learning how to create inner freedom and design our lives is the final piece of the puzzle. The four core element model uncovers a different perspective on the cause of anxiety conditions and embraces a full understanding of the nature of the human condition. It puts you back in the driver’s seat to return to your natural healthy self. Your natural state is to be connected and happy; all that’s needed is a little guidance to help you find the way back to your default setting.  

Bognor Regis, Bristol, London, West Sussex I am an integrative counsellor so covered this in my studies alongside years of experience and continued professional development  

Everyone gets anxious sometimes. But when anxiety stops you from living your life—when you're avoiding things that matter, waking up at 3am with your heart racing, or constantly scanning for danger even when you're safe—something deeper is going on. For some people, we find the root fairly quickly. For others, it takes more digging to understand why your nervous system learned to stay on high alert. Either way, we work together to understand what's driving it, then change it. Not just manage the symptoms, but actually address why your body thinks it needs to protect you all the time. Anxiety isn't a character flaw. It's your nervous system doing what it learned to do. We can help it learn something different.  

Anxiety is an emotion that quickly gets out of control if we don’t understand what we are dealing with. A calm you is a better you...  

I help clients understand the deeper roots of their anxiety and fears, developing a compassionate awareness of the emotions and beliefs that sustain them. Through a blend of evidence-based and experiential approaches, we work to regulate the nervous system, expand tolerance for discomfort, and foster a sense of calm and confidence in daily life.  

Anxiety can be debilitating and distressing, and prevent you from being the person or parent you can be or would like to be. But there is a way forward for you. And I can be of support. I can offer a safe, compassionate and non-judgmental space where you can relieve thoughts and feelings you find troubling, and gently work through any experiences underlying them. You're welcome to get in touch to ask questions or book a consultation to explore if I'm the right counsellor for you.  

Anxiety and fear can affect every part of life, leaving you feeling trapped in overthinking, worry, avoidance, panic, self-doubt, or constant anticipation that something bad is about to happen. I work with clients to understand not just the symptoms of anxiety, but the deeper patterns, experiences, relationships, and pressures that may be driving it underneath. Together, we can explore what your anxiety is trying to protect you from, why certain fears feel so powerful, and how to develop a greater sense of safety, confidence, and calm. My approach is less about managing symptoms alone and more about understanding your inner world and what may need to change beneath the surface.