Your brain means well. Its execution is terrible.
Somewhere along the way it confused uncomfortable with dangerous, and now it sounds the alarm for everything. That pattern has a name, and more importantly, it has a treatment.
You've probably tried to think your way out of it. You've made lists, Googled your symptoms, asked people you trust if everything is okay, and avoided the situations that make it worse. And it works, for a little while. Then the anxiety comes back, usually louder. That is not a willpower problem. That is avoidance doing exactly what avoidance does.
"Anxiety doesn't just live in your head. It moves into your schedule, your relationships, your sleep, your body. It starts making decisions for you."
You know the feeling. You cancel plans because something might go wrong. You lie awake running through tomorrow's worst-case scenarios. You ask for reassurance, get it, and feel better for about ninety seconds before the doubt creeps back in. You have tried breathing exercises, positive affirmations, and reasoning with yourself. And none of it has stuck, because anxiety is not a logic problem.
Anxiety is a pattern. Your brain learned that avoidance equals safety, and now it applies that rule to everything. The good news is that patterns can be unlearned. The treatment is not about relaxation. It is about teaching your brain that discomfort is not danger.
How anxiety impacts your life
Perfectionism and work
Anxiety and perfectionism are closely related. Perfectionism is often anxiety in a productive-looking costume. The endless revising, the inability to call something done, the procrastination that comes not from laziness but from fear of getting it wrong. Anxiety-driven perfectionism is exhausting because the standard keeps moving. Done is never quite done enough.
Parenting and new moms
Anxiety does not pause for parenthood. For new mothers especially, anxiety can attach itself to every decision, every milestone, every what-if. Searching "is it normal if my newborn" at 3am is one thing. Doing it every night, spiraling through worst case scenarios, and being unable to enjoy your baby because your brain is too busy scanning for threats is another. Postpartum anxiety is one of the most underreported perinatal mental health conditions and one of the most treatable.
Relationships
Anxiety can make you a difficult person to be close to, not because of who you are but because of what anxiety demands. Needing reassurance. Avoiding conflict because the anticipation of it is unbearable. Canceling plans because the idea of going felt fine yesterday and overwhelming today. Over time these patterns create distance and a loneliness that is particularly painful because you are surrounded by people who care about you.
Physical health
Anxiety lives in the body. Chronic muscle tension, headaches, gastrointestinal issues, disrupted sleep, and a nervous system that never fully powers down. Many people with anxiety spend years seeking medical explanations for physical symptoms before anyone connects them to anxiety.
Finances
Anxiety-driven avoidance can have real financial consequences. Avoiding career advancement because visibility feels threatening. Overspending as a way to self-soothe. Avoiding financial planning because thinking about the future triggers more anxiety. Money and anxiety have a complicated relationship that rarely gets talked about in therapy contexts and probably should.
Why avoidance is the problem, not the solution
Every time you avoid something that makes you anxious, your brain logs a win: "We avoided that and nothing bad happened. Avoidance works." Except it doesn't. It shrinks your world one decision at a time. The places you go get smaller. The things you'll try get fewer. The anxiety gets louder because you keep proving to your brain that it was right to be afraid.
CBT and exposure-based therapy reverse that cycle. Instead of avoiding the discomfort, we move toward it, gradually, strategically, at a pace you can handle. Your brain learns that the uncomfortable thing isn't actually dangerous. And once it learns that, the alarm system starts to quiet down.
We map your anxiety patterns
First, we identify what you're avoiding, what triggers the worry spiral, and what keeps it going. No guesswork. We build a clear picture.
We build a fear hierarchy
We rank your feared situations from manageable to intense. You don't start at the top. We work up gradually so you're always challenged but never overwhelmed.
We practice exposures
You face the feared situations on purpose, while resisting the avoidance and reassurance-seeking. Your brain learns that discomfort passes on its own.
You become your own safety signal
The goal is for you to trust yourself, not your coping strategies. Therapy ends. The confidence doesn't.
What to expect when we work together
I practice via telehealth only, which means we meet virtually. You sit in your living room, your car, or an unoccupied room at your office, wherever you feel most comfortable. I meet you wherever you are, literally and figuratively.
We start with a thorough assessment, not a generic intake. I need to understand your specific anxiety pattern: what you avoid, what reassurance looks like for you, what the worry spiral sounds like in your head. Then we build a treatment plan designed for your life, not a textbook version of it.
Sessions are structured and evidence-based. We track progress with real measures, not vibes. You will know if this is working because the data will show it, and so will your life.
I use CBT and exposure-based approaches because they have the strongest research behind them for anxiety. This isn't about learning to relax or think positive. It's about rewiring the avoidance pattern that keeps your anxiety in charge.
I work with adults in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Nebraska. If anxiety has been running the show, we can change that.
Does any of this sound familiar?
Check the ones that apply. This isn't a diagnosis. It's a starting point.
Sound familiar? You're not alone, and this is treatable.
I work with adults via telehealth in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Nebraska. If your anxiety has been calling the shots, let's change that.
Book Your Free ConsultFrequently Asked Questions
How do I know if I have anxiety or OCD?
There's significant overlap, and they frequently co-occur. The short version: anxiety tends to focus on real-life worries taken to an extreme, while OCD involves intrusive thoughts and ritualized responses. But the distinction matters less than you think. Both respond to exposure-based treatment. We'll sort it out together in our initial assessment.
I have tried therapy before and it did not help. Why would this be different?
Most therapy for anxiety focuses on understanding why you feel anxious or learning to relax. That can help, but it rarely changes the pattern. CBT and ERP target the avoidance cycle directly, the thing that keeps anxiety alive. It's a fundamentally different approach, and it has the research to back it up.
Do you treat all types of anxiety?
I specialize in generalized anxiety, social anxiety, health anxiety, and anxiety that overlaps with OCD. If your anxiety involves avoidance, reassurance-seeking, or what-if thinking, there's a very good chance we can work together. During our free consult, we'll figure out if I'm the right fit.
Do you take insurance?
I am an out-of-network provider. Many clients get reimbursed through their insurance using a superbill. I provide superbills upon request at the end of each month. You can check your out-of-network benefits here.
How do I get started?
Book a free 15-minute consult. It's low-key and no commitment. We'll talk about what's going on and figure out if we're a good fit.
Related conditions
Anxiety disorders frequently overlap with each other. If what you are reading here sounds familiar but does not quite fit, one of these might:
OCD
Intrusive thoughts, compulsive behaviors, and exhausting loops that look like anxiety but follow a different pattern.
Learn morePanic Disorder
When your body runs a full emergency response for emergencies that do not exist, and you start rearranging your life around the next one.
Learn morePhobias
A learned fear response that shrinks your world one avoidance at a time. One of the most treatable conditions in mental health.
Learn more