Anxiety & overwhelm
When you’re tired of holding everything together.
Anxiety doesn’t always look the way people expect it to.
Sometimes it’s visible in the guise of panic attacks, phobias, an inability to leave the house. Sometimes it’s quieter than that. It’s the person who appears completely capable, who meets every deadline and shows up for everyone, but who is running on a low, constant hum of worry that never quite switches off.
It might show up as physical symptoms that have no obvious cause like tension in the shoulders, a knot in the stomach, disrupted sleep, a jaw that aches from being held too tight. It might be the way your mind races through worst-case scenarios before you’ve even got out of bed. The way you rehearse conversations that haven’t happened yet, and replay ones that have. The way you can feel simultaneously overwhelmed and guilty for feeling overwhelmed.
What is sometimes described as ‘high-functioning anxiety’ is particularly hard to name, because everything looks fine from the outside. You’re coping but the effort it takes to keep it that way is quietly exhausting in a way that’s hard to explain, even to the people closest to you.
When understanding isn’t enough
Many people who come to therapy with anxiety already have considerable insight into it. They know where it comes from and can trace the thread back. Yet the pattern persists.
Anxiety isn’t only a thought, it’s a state the body has learned to live in.
The relationship between anxiety and the body runs deep. Shallow breathing, a braced posture, a digestive system that registers threat before the conscious mind does - these aren’t just symptoms of anxiety, they’re part of how it sustains itself. The body and mind are in constant conversation, and anxiety speaks fluently in both directions.
Over time, watchfulness can become the default setting. A background hum of readiness that feels so familiar it barely registers as anxiety at all. It just feels like who you are.
That’s why the work isn’t only about insight or changing how you think. It’s about helping the body learn, gradually and at its own pace, that it’s safe to settle. That the threat it has been preparing for may not be coming. That it’s possible to feel different, not just to understand that you could.
Other specialisms
Patterns, relationships & self-worth
Perfectionism, people-pleasing and recurring patterns that can be difficult to shift.
Trauma, PTSD & C-PTSD
When past experiences continue to shape the way you feel and respond.
Getting started
I offer a free 20-minute discovery call, with no obligation — a chance to ask any questions and get a sense of whether I might be the right fit for you.