Anxiety Therapy
Therapy rooted in mindfulness and narrative methods for anxiety, panic, and OCD online from Aptos and across California.
Anxious thoughts have taken over your mind
Anxiety can feel relentless. Your mind races ahead, scanning for what could go wrong. You replay conversations, second-guess decisions, prepare for worst-case scenarios that may never happen, but they still feel urgent and real. Panic can arrive suddenly, with a rush of physical symptoms that make you feel out of control. OCD can pull you into loops of intrusive thoughts, mental checking, or rituals that temporarily reduce fear but never fully resolve it.
You may already know your fears don’t entirely make sense, and that knowledge doesn’t stop them. Over time, anxiety can shrink your world. It can make you cautious, avoidant, or constantly on edge. And the more you try to force it away, the louder it can seem to get.
Anxiety is not a personal failure.
It’s often your mind’s attempt to protect you: scanning for danger, trying to prevent mistakes, trying to create certainty where there isn’t any. For some people, anxiety is tied to long standing patterns of responsibility, fear of failure, or difficulty trusting their own judgment. For others, intrusive thoughts feel especially convincing and urgent, as though the mind is presenting possibilities as probabilities.
When anxiety becomes dominant, it can begin to feel like the loudest voice in the room, drowning out your perspective, intuition, and self-trust. Our work focuses on understanding that voice rather than fighting it.
How I work with anxiety, panic, and OCD
My approach is mindful, relational, and insight oriented.
Rather than using exposure based methods, we focus on helping you understand how your mind is constructing fear and how certain thinking patterns may be fueling anxiety. I am trained in Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (ICBT), an evidence based treatment for OCD that helps people step out of obsessive doubt without relying on exposure exercises.
This can be especially helpful if you’ve tried traditional exposure therapy (ERP) and found it overwhelming or not aligned with you, or if you’re looking for a different approach to OCD.
In our sessions, we:
Develop awareness of how anxiety shows up in your thoughts and body
Identify the stories your mind is telling you
Strengthen your ability to question anxious inferences
Build tolerance for uncertainty without forcing yourself into distressing exercises
The goal is not to eliminate anxiety completely. It’s to help you relate to it differently, with more clarity, steadiness, and choice.
Let’s take away the authority anxious thoughts have in your life
Intrusive thoughts may still appear, but they feel less convincing. Panic feels less catastrophic. You begin to notice space between the thought and your response. Instead of scrambling for certainty, you’re able to pause. Instead of assuming danger, you can evaluate it. Instead of feeling trapped in mental loops, you regain a sense of perspective.
Many people describe feeling more grounded and less driven by fear. Decisions feel less paralyzing. Daily life becomes less consumed by mental rehearsal and internal alarms. You don’t become fearless — but you become less ruled by fear.
If anxiety has been taking up more space in your life lately, you don’t have to wait until it gets worse to reach out.
I offer anxiety therapy in Aptos, CA and online across California, and I do my best to schedule new clients as soon as possible when things are feeling urgent.
You’re welcome to contact me to set up a consultation and talk about what’s been going on.
Frequently asked questions about therapy for anxiety, panic, and OCD
Do you use exposure therapy (ERP) for OCD?
No. My approach to OCD does not rely on exposure and response prevention (ERP). I am trained in Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (ICBT), which helps address obsessive doubt by examining how the mind constructs feared scenarios.
This approach can be a good fit for people who have tried ERP and did not find it helpful, or who prefer a non-exposure-based method.
Can therapy help with panic attacks?
Yes. Therapy can help you understand the internal and physical processes that fuel panic and develop a steadier response when symptoms arise.
Is online therapy effective for anxiety?
Research shows that online therapy can be effective for anxiety disorders, panic attacks, and OCD. I offer online therapy in Aptos and across California through a secure video platform.