Anxiety Therapy
Mindfulness-based therapy for anxiety, panic, and OCD. Online therapy based in Aptos and serving clients across California.
Your mind won’t slow down
Anxiety takes over your mind and feels relentless. Your thoughts race ahead, scanning for what could go wrong. You replay conversations, second-guess decisions, and prepare for worst-case scenarios that may never happen but still feel urgent and real. For many people, anxiety intensifies after big life changes.
You may have recently experienced:
your first panic attack
nights where overthinking keeps you from sleeping
building pressure at work or burnout from holding too much
parenting stress or relationship tension
From the outside, your life may look stable or successful, but internally it feels like there’s a whirlwind in your mind and tension in your body. You might already recognize that some of your fears don’t fully make sense, and that insight doesn’t stop them. Over time, anxiety can shrink your world. The harder you try to push it down, the louder it seems to get.
Anxiety is not a personal failure.
It’s often your mind’s attempt to protect you. Anxiety is scanning for danger, trying to prevent mistakes, and searching for certainty in unpredictable situations.
For many thoughtful, responsible people, anxiety is tied to long standing patterns:
feeling responsible to hold things together
fear of failure, or making the wrong decision
difficulty trusting your own judgment
pressure to meet high internal standards
For others, anxiety shows up through intrusive thoughts or obsessional doubts. Your mind presents frightening possibilities as if they were likely realities. When anxiety becomes dominant, it can start to feel like the loudest voice in the room as it drowns 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. We take the time to really understand what’s going on at the core level, not just using skills for symptom management or settling for surface level changes. Truly healing the anxious patterns that are keeping you stuck is slow, relational work that brings about deep change.
Many of the people I work with begin therapy looking for relief from anxiety, panic, or obsessive thoughts. As we slow down and understand how these patterns developed, we often begin to notice deeper layers like past relational experiences, old fears, or moments where your mind learned it needed to stay vigilant in order to stay safe.
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.
For OCD, 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.
Let’s loosen the grip anxiety has on 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. The constant mental rehearsal quiets down and 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.