mental health
Anxiety Counselling Services
Anxiety
Anxiety is a common term used to describe feeling worried, nervous, uneasy or scared. Anxiety is fear based and future focused; it is a feeling in response to an upcoming event where there is a lot of uncertainty. Many people experience anxiety at one time or another, as it is part of our brain’s response to a perceived danger — even if that danger is not real. Anxiety is a symptom of your thinking and feeling. When anxiety builds over time without being managed, it can turn into something more serious and people may then experience an anxiety or panic attack which is much harder to manage and feels much scarier. There is hope when it comes to anxiety and with proper treatment and support, people can learn to navigate their emotions more effectively.
Symptoms of anxiety can include:
- Panic attacks
- Physical symptoms like sweaty palms, difficulty breathing, heart racing, upset stomach
- Mind racing
- Anticipating disaster
- Forecasting worst case scenarios
- Worrying about the future
- Worrying about others
- Attempts to find relief from anxiety through unhealthy tools, like substances or self-harm
- Difficulty relaxing
- Sleep and eating issues
If you have any of these symptoms, either for a multiple day or week duration at a time and/or fairly frequently, then it would be recommended you seek out some support for dealing with anxiety.
How we treat this issue:
At HUM, treatment is offered from a multi-lens therapeutic approach, combining elements of cognitive-behavioural therapy, motivational interviewing, emotion-focused therapy, and more to support you in developing healthy tools and strategies to deal with your feelings. Anxiety treatment involves getting to know your symptoms, resources, and available support and is there to help you learn how to navigate your fear and work with it, rather than be consumed by it.
The Available Services For This Issue:
The assessment includes 3 appointments and is designed to get to know you, the acuity of your issues and appropriate treatment recommendations. The 3 appointments include a nursing assessment, an assessment with a registered psychologist or social worker and a session with a medical doctor. Following this, treatment options will be provided that are based on your needs and current situation. Social and peer support in the community may be recommended as well as other aspects of a bio-psycho-social-spiritual framework of recovery.
At HUM, we use a range of techniques based on experiential relationship building, dialogue, communication and behavior change that are designed to improve the mental health of an individual,and improve relationships with others. Our goal is to provide an open, supportive, and confidential environment for you to address the issues that are concerning you. These principles can also be provided through couples/family sessions.
This provides the opportunity to clarify boundaries, identify what may be individual issues for people to work on, while addressing issues jointly without telling each other what to do.
