Therapy for anxiety in WAshington and MASSACHUSETTS
A place to slow down and breathe.
Let me guess…
The running lists. The spiraling thoughts. The desire for perfection that is always just out of reach…
From the outside, you may be seen as someone who “has it all together.” You’re capable, reliable, and praised for how much you manage. Inside, though, it can feel very different, like you’re holding everything up by sheer effort and quietly nearing exhaustion.
You may feel constantly tired but unsure how to slow down. There’s often a fear that if you stop, or even rest, everything will fall apart. Anxiety keeps you moving, pushing, managing, even when your body is asking for a pause.
Rest can start to feel unsafe or undeserved. The inner critic grows louder the moment you try to slow down, telling you that resting means giving up or falling behind. Part of you wants things to feel easier and more sustainable, but you’re not sure what that would actually look like, or how to get there without losing control.
In therapy, we work together to understand how anxiety has been functioning in your life and gently create more space for steadiness, choice, and relief, without asking you to abandon the parts of you that have helped you survive..
You deserve to rest
Therapy for anxiety can help you release the critical voice and regain presence.
Right now, the idea of slowing down or turning inward may feel overwhelming. Your mind might insist there’s “no time,” keeping you moving even when your body is asking for something different. In my work, we approach slowing down gently, not as another task to do, but as a way to create more space, clarity, and understanding over time.
Together, we begin by getting curious about the stories and expectations you’ve learned about how you need to be in order to feel okay. From there, we slow things down in a supported way, learning to notice what your body and emotions are communicating and how to respond with more care and choice.
This work isn’t about getting it perfect. It’s about allowing room for experimentation, uncertainty, and being human. We explore what it might look like to loosen perfectionism and self-criticism, and to relate to yourself with more flexibility and compassion.
What we’ll work on
Here’s what we’ll do together:
Tame the inner critic and foster self compassion
Embrace the art of rest (both physically and mentally)
Examine the origins of your anxiety and process past events
Learn the language of anxiety and explore communication from other emotions
Learn new skills to slow down the mental chatter and tune into your authentic self
FAQS
What others have wondered about therapy for anxiety
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Anxiety therapy helps you understand how your nervous system responds to stress, uncertainty, and perceived threat. Rather than trying to eliminate anxiety, therapy focuses on building safety, flexibility, and capacity so anxious responses feel less overwhelming and take up less space in your life.
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Anxiety often feels constant because the nervous system is stuck in a heightened state of alert. This can happen after prolonged stress, pressure, or experiences that taught your body to stay on guard. Even when nothing is “wrong,” your body may still be responding to old cues of threat.
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Perfectionism is often a coping strategy for anxiety. For many people, striving, over-preparing, or needing things to be “just right” developed as a way to feel safe, avoid mistakes, or reduce uncertainty. Therapy helps explore these patterns with curiosity rather than judgment.
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Perfectionism is not a diagnosis, but it commonly functions as an anxiety-based pattern. It can show up as fear of failure, difficulty resting, harsh self-criticism, or feeling like nothing is ever enough. These patterns often make sense in the context of your history and nervous system.
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No. Therapy is not about forcing you to let go of parts of yourself that have helped you cope. We work collaboratively to understand what perfectionism has protected you from and gently explore what it might be like to have more flexibility, self-trust, and ease at a pace that feels safe.
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Many people seek anxiety therapy not because they’re in crisis, but because they’re tired of constantly holding things together. Even “high-functioning” anxiety can take a toll. Therapy can help reduce the background strain so life feels less effortful and more spacious.
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Anxiety and perfectionism often develop in response to experiences where safety, predictability, or support felt uncertain. Even without a single traumatic event, repeated pressure or emotional responsibility can shape how the nervous system learns to cope. Trauma-informed therapy addresses these patterns gently and respectfully.
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Yes. EMDR can help when anxiety or perfectionism are rooted in unresolved experiences, beliefs, or nervous system responses. By reprocessing what your body learned in the past, EMDR can reduce the intensity of anxiety and the pressure to constantly perform or get things right.
More questions? Check out my FAQs page.
ready to get started?