How I work
Anxiety therapy
A nervous system that won’t stand down.
What it actually feels like
Anxiety gets described as worrying too much, which doesn’t capture it. More often it’s a body that stays braced. A chest that won’t loosen. Sleep that arrives late and leaves early. A mind that runs the same three scenarios all evening and finds no exit.
Some people can name what they’re anxious about. Plenty can’t, and that absence becomes its own worry.
Where anxiety and trauma overlap
A nervous system that learned, at some point, that it wasn’t safe to stand down will keep scanning long after the danger has gone. That isn’t a character flaw, and it isn’t something you can reason your way out of.
Because trauma is my specialty, this is often where we end up looking. Not always, and never before you’re ready. But if talking about anxiety hasn’t moved it, the reason may be that the anxiety isn’t the whole story.
How we might work
Sometimes this is practical and present-focused: understanding what sets it off, and what actually settles you rather than what is supposed to.
Sometimes it is body-based, using Brainspotting or EMDR to work with what talking hasn’t reached. We’ll figure out which as we go.
Get started
Curious about whether we could be a good fit?
Schedule a free 15 minute consultation. No pressure, and no need to explain everything up front.
Prefer to write? Email sunflowerstridescounseling@gmail.com. I reply within two business days.
Also
Other ways I work
-
Trauma and PTSD
Old wounds that still shape how today feels.
-
Depression
When everything takes more than it should.
-
Life transitions
Divorce, loss, a career ending, becoming a parent.
-
Stress and burnout
Running on empty long enough that empty feels normal.
-
Self-esteem
The voice that got installed early and never left.
-
Brainspotting
A gentle, body-based way of processing what talking alone hasn’t reached.
-
EMDR
A structured approach to reprocessing traumatic memory.
-
Internal Family Systems
Getting curious about the conflicting sides of yourself instead of being at war with them.
-
Walk & talk therapy
Sessions outdoors, walking side by side rather than sitting across a desk.
-
Online therapy
Anywhere in Wisconsin, from a place you already feel safe.