Anxiety Counselling in Kelowna and Online Across BC
For the anxiety that does not look like anxiety from the outside, and for the kind that stops you in the parking lot. In person in Kelowna and West Kelowna, and virtually anywhere in British Columbia.
A lot of the anxiety I work with does not look like anxiety. It looks like someone who is early to everything, who answers emails at eleven at night, who is the reliable one, and who has not felt properly rested in about four years.
Some of it does look like anxiety. Chest tight, heart going, convinced something is badly wrong, sitting in the car outside the grocery store waiting for it to pass. Both are worth getting help with, and neither requires you to have hit a crisis first.
I am a Registered Clinical Counsellor with a Masters in Counselling Psychology, registered with the BCACC, and I have training in Somatic Experiencing. That training shapes most of how I work with anxiety.
How I work with anxiety
Most people who come to me for anxiety already understand it. They can name their triggers, they have read about the nervous system, some have done cognitive work before and found it helpful up to a point. What they have not been able to do is think their way out of a body that is still braced.
So we work with both. We pay attention to the thoughts, and we pay close attention to what is happening physically while you have them. Where the anxiety sits, what it does to your breathing, what actually settles it and what only appears to. Over time the aim is a wider range of situations you can stay regulated in, rather than a shorter list of situations you avoid.
My style is conversational and led by you. I am not going to hand you a worksheet and check your homework. I will be direct when that is useful, and there is room for humour, which a surprising number of anxious people have not been allowed in a therapy room before.
What I work with
High-functioning anxiety, where the outside looks fine and the inside does not. Panic attacks and the fear of having another one. Physical symptoms including nausea, chest tightness, and sleep that will not come. Anxiety that has attached itself to health, to work, to driving, or to nothing you can identify. Perfectionism and imposter feelings, which are usually anxiety wearing a more acceptable outfit.
Anxiety after a loss also comes up often, and it catches people off guard. If that is where you are, the grief and loss counselling page may be the better starting point, and we can work out which between us.
What a first session is like
We start with a free 15-minute consultation, which is mostly for you to work out whether I am the right fit. You can ask whatever you want about how I work.
In a first full session I will ask what brought you in and what the anxiety is costing you, but there is no pressure to perform distress or to have it all articulated. If talking about it makes it worse in the moment, we can slow down and work with that directly. That is useful information rather than a problem.
If you want a general sense of what a first appointment involves, I have written about what to expect in a first therapy session.
In person in Kelowna, or online anywhere in BC
I see clients in person in Kelowna and West Kelowna, and virtually across British Columbia, including the wider Okanagan. For anxiety specifically, some people find starting virtually easier, and moving to in-person later is always an option.
Booking and current rates are on Jane. If cost is part of what you are weighing, here is what counselling costs in BC, including how extended health coverage tends to work with RCC services.
Reading on anxiety while you decide
These are the pieces I have written that people tend to find most useful before they book anything.
- High-functioning anxiety and the signs you might have it
- Panic attack or anxiety attack, and how to tell them apart
- Anxiety nausea, why it happens and how to settle it
- Nervous system regulation and what it actually means
- Imposter syndrome and why it feels so real
Common questions about anxiety counselling
What happens in anxiety counselling?
We work out what your anxiety is actually doing, in your thoughts and in your body, and then we work with both. That usually means tracking where anxiety shows up physically, finding what settles it, and slowly widening the range of situations you can stay regulated in. It is less about arguing with anxious thoughts and more about changing the state underneath them.
Do I need a diagnosis to come in for anxiety?
No. Most of the people I see have never been formally diagnosed with anything. They are managing, often quite well from the outside, and it is costing them more than anyone realizes. You do not need a label to justify wanting help with this.
What is somatic therapy and why use it for anxiety?
Somatic work treats anxiety as something happening in your nervous system rather than only in your thinking. I have training in Somatic Experiencing, which shapes how I work. It matters for anxiety because a lot of people already understand their anxiety perfectly well and are still lying awake at 3am. Insight alone does not always reach the part of you that is bracing.
Is what I am having a panic attack or an anxiety attack?
They are different, and the distinction is genuinely useful rather than pedantic. Panic tends to arrive fast, peak hard, and pass; anxiety tends to build and stay. I have written a fuller comparison of the two, and we can also work it out together in session.
Can anxiety cause physical symptoms?
Yes, and it is one of the most common reasons people first get in touch. Nausea, a tight chest, a churning stomach, jaw tension, trouble sleeping, and exhaustion that rest does not fix are all ordinary parts of an anxious nervous system. Getting checked out medically is sensible, and finding nothing wrong does not mean it is imaginary.
Do you offer virtual anxiety counselling in British Columbia?
Yes. I see clients in person in Kelowna and West Kelowna, and virtually anywhere in BC. For some people with anxiety, doing sessions from their own home is easier at the start, and that is a completely reasonable place to begin.
You do not have to be in crisis to be worth helping.
A free 15-minute consultation is a low-stakes way to find out whether we are a fit. In person in Kelowna and West Kelowna, or online anywhere in British Columbia.
Book a consultation