Anxiety Therapist Minneapolis
Treating anxiety disorders and OCD with evidenced-based therapy
Whether you are a child, teen, or adult, you might be feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to go from here.
Just for a moment, you wish you could relax, but you can’t seem to do it no matter how hard you try. The stress and worried thoughts just keep coming back. People around you tell you to “just relax” or “there’s nothing to worry about.” If it were only that simple. You don’t choose to feel this way.
You want to find relief.
You want to wake up feeling refreshed from a good night sleep. You are tired of anxiety taking over your life and you are willing to work hard to get back in control. Counseling with Jenny Matthews will help you get in control of your thoughts, have a relaxed body, and back to living your life the way you want. Anxiety doesn’t deserve to have power over your life.
With the help of an anxiety therapist, the treatment for anxiety is simple. But it’s not easy. If you are willing to make the necessary changes and implement strategies that are proven to work, then you will be able to have the life you deserve.
Frequently Asked Questions about Working With An Anxiety Therapist
How do I know if I have anxiety?
Anxiety can cause changes to your thinking, such as having never-ending “what if” thoughts or always jumping to the worst case scenario. When you are anxious, you will usually feel this physically in your body. Examples include headaches, stomachaches, nausea, rapid heart beat, and many others. Anxiety can make it hard for you to focus, have troubles with sleeping, and cause you to have panic attacks. All of these uncomfortable sensations can cause you to lose confidence in your abilities and even begin to avoid going to certain places or doing certain activities because of fear or worry. There are many signs and symptoms of anxiety. Many people have experienced the feeling of anxiety during difficult times in their life, and others have a more chronic anxiety condition that limits their ability to enjoy life.
What kind of anxiety disorders do you treat in Minneapolis, MN?
I treat a wide range of issues within anxiety disorders. This includes generalized anxiety, social anxiety, separation anxiety, health anxiety, phobias, panic disorder, agoraphobia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (although this is no longer classified as an anxiety disorder).
How can therapy help with anxiety?
Counseling for anxiety can help you to get your life back. Therapy for anxiety can help you find new ways to relax. It can help you to learn more helpful ways of thinking. Working with an anxiety therapist can help you learn how to face your fears. You can learn strategies that are proven by research to help you start living again. Working with a therapist who specializes in anxiety disorders can help accelerate your progress. Anxiety is the most treatable mental health condition there is, so there is no reason for you to continue to suffer.
What can I expect when working with an Anxiety Therapist?
When you start therapy, you can expect the first 1-2 sessions to include us getting to know one another. During these sessions, you will be going through, what I can the “assessment phase.” I will ask about your history and ask questions to understand your current struggles with anxiety. I don’t rely on just using myself to assess the severity of your anxiety, I also use screening and assessment tools to provide objective information about your anxiety symptoms.
Then we will move into treating your anxiety. During this phase of your treatment, I will collaborate with you on your goals. Maybe you have one goal or even three goals for treatment. That’s totally fine. I can help you prioritize what to work on first to keep things simple.
You can expect part of my process in therapy is to teach you about anxiety and how it works. Often times clients I work with get much relief just from learning more about their anxiety. But that’s enough to create lasting change. We will then work on practicing skills and trying new things. You will likely practice new skills with me in the office in order to get feedback and talk about any challenges. But even that is not enough! A big part of my practice is having you practice these coping skills outside of counseling sessions. So if “homework” isn’t for you then it’s unlikely you will see much progress when working with me.
When you work with you me, you will find that I’m all about giving you practical tools with a hands-on approach. I’m more of a teacher or coach than a “healer”.
Does your anxiety Therapist work with kids or teens?
Yes! Much of my experience over the years has been specifically treating children and adolescents. I am most skilled at working with kids ages 9+.Furthermore, I really enjoy working with parents on how to help their child or teen use their anxiety skills.
HOW DO YOU WORK WITH PARENTS?
If you have ever taken your child to therapy before, you may have been passively involved in the process. Maybe you sat in the waiting room most of the time or even dropped your child off for anxiety counseling. Have you ever wondered what your child was learning and if your time and money was being well spent? And even if your child was benefiting from anxiety therapy, you may have felt like YOU didn’t know how to help your child. This is why when I’m working with children and teenagers, I include parents in the sessions. Again, my approach is practical and about skills building, which means that I need parents to understand how to reinforce these skills at home. In my counseling sessions, parents are often present for the entire session and other times I meet with parents separately for further support. If your child or teen is not willing or able to participate in anxiety therapy, then I am happy to work parents alone on learning ways to help reduce their child’s anxiety symptoms. You can also sign-up for one of my workshops for parents of kids and teens with anxiety!
How do you treat anxiety?
I help people with anxiety in my office located outside of Minneapolis (on the border of Edina and Bloomington, MN.) Or from where-ever you are, using online therapy. I don’t help people overcome anxiety with a typical “talk therapy” approach. I use evidenced-based treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). These are considered short-term treatment approaches.
HOW LONG WILL I BE IN THERAPY?
Although this answer varies per individual, you can expect to see improvement from anxiety within 12-15 sessions. I recommend beginning anxiety therapy on a weekly basis for the first 3-4 sessions, and then move to bi-weekly if needed.
What is CBT?
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (also known as CBT) is considered the gold standard for treating anxiety disorders. With this counseling approach, you will learn how to your thoughts lead to feeling anxious. Furthermore, you will learn how these anxious thoughts and feelings change your behavior. Some of the techniques include reframing your thoughts, relaxation strategies, and exposure to feared situations. CBT is considered a short-term treatment, so you don’t have to worry about being in therapy forever. CBT is also considered an active treatment approach, which means that you don’t have to talk about your childhood issues and try to figure out the “root cause.”
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Anxiety Therapist located in Minneapolis
Conveniently located in just outside of Minneapolis. State of Mind Therapy can also help you anywhere within Minnesota through online therapy.
Bloomington, MN
Anywhere you are.
Meet me online through a safe and secure online portal.
