We are Licensed, Independently Verified Professionals
Support for Those Who Sense More
If you are attuned to everything around you – the subtle tensions in conversations, the ‘what-ifs’ that others seem to miss, the weight of possibilities that haven’t happened yet – you likely have a heightened sense of awareness.
You perceive more, feel deeply, and experience life with extraordinary awareness. While this depth of feeling can feel overwhelming, it’s also a remarkable gift. At Polaris Psychology, our anxiety therapy recognizes that your perceptive nature isn’t something to eliminate—it’s a strength that deserves understanding and support.
Thoughtful Care for Sensitive Souls
Your mind notices things others miss. You feel a room’s emotional temperature the moment you walk in. You sense undercurrents in conversations, anticipate needs before they’re expressed, and have a deep awareness of how fragile and precious life can be.
This is who you are, a way of being that deserves understanding and skillful support. At Polaris Psychology, we provide anxiety treatment for highly sensitive individuals who are ready to transform their relationship with worry, overwhelm, and the constant hum of awareness that never seems to quiet.
Knowledge & Experience
Choosing a partner in your Anxiety Therapy journey can make all the difference. We’re passionate about helping you thrive by blending compassion, real-world tools, and a commitment to helping you discover your unique strengths. Here’s what sets us apart:
Ashley Welch, Psy.D.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Ashley Welch approaches anxiety therapy with deep compassion and an understanding of how early experiences shape our adult emotional lives.
As both a clinician and mother, she brings personal insight to the challenges of managing anxiety while navigating relationships, family responsibilities, and life transitions. She specializes in trauma-informed anxiety care and helping clients develop regulation capacity while processing difficult experiences.
Amanda Mead, Psy.D.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Amanda Mead brings extensive experience helping adults understand how attachment experiences can create anxiety. She recognizes that when we don’t get what we need in childhood, it often creates lasting anxiety patterns.
Today, anxiety is ever-present, and Dr. Mead has considerable experience helping individuals navigate anxiety in a variety of contexts—whether related to trauma, workplace stress, school pressures, relationship challenges, military service, first-responder experiences, immigration, and many other life circumstances.
When Your Sensitivity Feels Like Too Much
If you’re here, you might be exhausted from carrying everyone else’s emotions alongside your own. Maybe you’ve heard “Don’t take things so personally” or “You worry too much” from well-meaning people who don’t understand how you process the world.
You could be someone who rehearses conversations before they happen, loses sleep replaying interactions, or feels your heart race over scenarios that exist only in your imagination. Perhaps your body holds tension you can’t explain, or you find yourself avoiding emotionally overwhelming situations.
Anxiety isn’t simply “negative thinking”—it’s often the result of a perceptive mind trying to navigate a complex world without the right tools. We understand that effective anxiety therapy for adults starts with recognizing that you’re not broken—you’re navigating complexity without the support you need.
Integrative Treatment That Respects Your Nature
Our anxiety therapy team of licensed psychologists brings together multiple therapeutic approaches specifically chosen for their effectiveness with anxiety and high sensitivity. We focus on building greater bodily awareness, improving your response to anxious thoughts, and developing emotional regulation skills, along with mindfulness practices that help ground your busy mind.
We adapt our anxiety treatment approach to work with sensitivity as the strength it can be while developing boundaries that protect your emotional well-being.
Therapy That Moves at Your Pace
Whether you’re new to anxiety therapy or have been seeking anxiety treatment for years, our collaborative approach adapts to your unique needs and comfort level. We believe healing happens in an atmosphere of safety and genuine understanding—never pressure or one-size-fits-all solutions.
Our adult anxiety counseling approach recognizes that every person’s relationship with sensitivity is unique, and therapy should respect that individuality while providing practical support for daily life.
Anxiety: Living with Deep Awareness
Beginning therapy is a courageous step toward deeper self-understanding and lasting relief. At Polaris Psychology, we provide a specialized environment where you can explore your inner world and heal from years of invalidation at your own pace. Our anxiety therapy sessions are designed to support individuals who are ready to move beyond surface-level coping mechanisms.
Through a blend of psychodynamic and evidence-based approaches, we help you identify the root causes of your anxiety while developing practical boundaries for daily life. We understand that your sensitive nature is a gift, and our goal is to provide the clinical expertise and emotional safety required to help you navigate life’s complexities without being consumed by them. At Polaris, healing isn’t about becoming someone else—it’s about gaining the tools to be comfortably you.
- Deep empathy and emotional intelligence: reading between the lines and understanding what others truly need
- Heightened awareness and intuition: sensing changes in environment, relationships, and situations before others notice
- Thoughtful decision-making: considering multiple perspectives and potential outcomes to make informed choices
- Strong moral compass and responsibility: caring deeply about doing the right thing and considering the impact on others
- Creative problem-solving: imagining various scenarios helps you prepare for and navigate complex situations
- Loyalty and dedication: your capacity to care deeply can create lasting, meaningful relationships
How Living with Deep Awareness Impacts Your Life
Of course, feeling everything so deeply can be exhausting. When you’re constantly aware of emotional currents, potential problems, and others’ needs, it’s natural to sometimes feel overwhelmed or drained.
Your nervous system may require more time to process experiences, leading to overwhelm in high-stimulation environments. The same sensitivity that allows you to care so deeply can leave you feeling responsible for things beyond your control, creating exhaustion and self-doubt.
Our anxiety therapy helps you develop strategies that work with how your sensitive system naturally functions while navigating environments that may not always accommodate your need for depth and reflection.
Rather than focusing solely on reducing symptoms, our anxiety treatment approach works with you to understand how your sensitive awareness serves you and build upon your inherent strengths. This balanced perspective allows for genuine growth without shame or judgment about your natural way of being in the world.
How We Approach Therapy for Anxiety
Anxiety therapy at Polaris Psychology understands that your relationship with worry and overwhelm is deeply personal and complex. Rather than offering quick fixes or generic coping strategies, we work alongside you to understand how anxiety shows up uniquely in your life, then develop personalized approaches that recognize both your challenges and your inherent wisdom.
Anxiety therapy at Polaris Psychology isn’t about making you “normal” or eliminating your natural responsiveness to the world. It’s about helping you live fully as the sensitive, aware person you are while having the support to navigate overwhelm with greater ease and confidence.
A Foundation of Safety and Understanding
Anxiety counseling with us begins by creating genuine emotional safety. We understand that many highly sensitive individuals have learned to be hypervigilant about others’ reactions, constantly scanning for judgment or dismissal. Our anxiety therapy sessions provide a space where your nervous system can gradually learn to relax.
This means moving at your pace, respecting your need for predictability, and never pushing you into emotional territory before you feel ready. We start by listening deeply to understand your unique experiences, strengths, and challenges. Together, we’ll identify the specific ways anxiety shows up in your life and develop personalized strategies that align with your goals and values.
Working with Your Nervous System
Anxiety therapy for adults must address how anxiety lives in the body. Racing heart, tight chest, shallow breathing, muscle tension—these physical responses carry important information about how you’re experiencing the world. Rather than viewing these sensations as problems to eliminate, our anxiety treatment explores them as messengers.
We integrate gentle movement, breathing techniques, and mindfulness practices that help interrupt the anxiety cycle before it spirals.
Our integrative approach helps you:
- Recognize early warning signs before anxiety peaks
- Develop personalized calming techniques that work for your body
- Understand the connection between physical sensations and emotional states
- Build a collection of grounding practices you can use anywhere
- Learn to befriend your nervous system rather than fight against it
- Increase awareness of thoughts and feelings and how you experience things in your body
Developing Emotional Regulation
Living with heightened sensitivity means experiencing emotions more intensely than others. Our anxiety therapy approaches focus on building your capacity to navigate these intense feelings without becoming overwhelmed or shutting down.
Rather than numbing your natural emotional responses, we work together on:
- Setting healthy boundaries without closing off your sensitivity
- Learning to differentiate between your emotions and others’
- Developing your capacity for emotional regulation that recognizes your empathetic nature
- Finding ways to use your sensitivity as wisdom rather than burden
- Creating sustainable practices for when emotions feel flooding
Transforming Your Relationship with Anxious Thoughts
Your anxious mind isn’t broken—it’s often trying to protect you from perceived threats. Our cognitive work helps you develop a different relationship with anxious thoughts without dismissing their protective intent. We emphasize curiosity over criticism, helping you become aware of patterns without judging yourself for having them.
This isn’t about positive thinking or thought-stopping. Instead, our anxiety treatment explores:
- How to observe thoughts without being consumed by them
- Distinguishing between helpful concern and unhelpful worry loops
- Developing flexibility in how you respond to “what if” scenarios
- Building confidence in your ability to handle uncertainty
- Creating space between you and your thoughts
Building Your Capacity for Life's Challenges
One of our primary goals in anxiety therapy is to help you expand what therapists call your “window of tolerance”—the zone where you can experience stress, challenge, or intense emotion without becoming overwhelmed or shutting down.
Through consistent, gentle practice in anxiety counseling, you’ll gradually build capacity to:
- Stay present during difficult conversations
- Navigate uncertainty without catastrophizing
- Experience strong emotions without being consumed by them
- Recover more quickly when you do become overwhelmed
- Trust your ability to handle whatever comes your way
Integrative Approaches Tailored to Your Needs
Every person’s relationship with anxiety is unique, which is why our anxiety therapy draws from multiple proven methods rather than following a rigid protocol. We customize our anxiety therapy approaches based on what resonates with you and what your particular anxiety patterns need most. Depending on your specific needs, our anxiety treatment might integrate:
- Cognitive Behavioral techniques to help identify and shift unhelpful thought patterns
- Psychodynamic therapy to explore deeper patterns and unconscious processes
- Mindfulness-based techniques to develop present-moment awareness and reduce rumination
- Somatic approaches to work directly with how anxiety manifests in your body
- Narrative therapy to help reshape your story and relationship with anxiety
- Ego state work to understand different parts of yourself, including anxious protector parts
- Solution-focused approaches that emphasize practical, real-world applications
Healing the Deeper Layers
Many people seeking anxiety treatment carry years of messages about being “too much,” “too worried,” or “too sensitive.” These internalized beliefs often create a secondary layer of anxiety about having anxiety. Our anxiety counseling gently explores these deeper patterns, helping you:
- Heal from past experiences of being misunderstood or dismissed
- Develop self-compassion for your sensitive nature
- Process any underlying experiences that may be fueling current anxiety patterns
- Build a more accepting relationship with all parts of yourself
- Reclaim your sensitivity as a strength rather than a weakness
What to Expect in Anxiety Therapy
Beginning therapy is a courageous step toward positive change. At Polaris Psychology, we create a warm, judgment-free space where you can explore challenges and discover strengths at your own pace.
Your Personalized Journey
Our first sessions focus on understanding your unique experiences and establishing meaningful goals that matter to you—whether that’s managing overwhelm, developing organizational systems, or building stronger relationships.
Practical Support That Makes a Difference
Throughout therapy, you’ll gain concrete strategies to enhance emotional regulation, boundary-setting, and self-advocacy. These approaches are tailored specifically to how your mind works best, not generic solutions.
Growth Without Judgment
Many clients come to us after years of feeling misunderstood or criticized. We provide space to heal from these experiences while building confidence and self-compassion.
Adaptive Support That Evolves With You
As you grow and your needs change, our approach evolves too. We’ll continuously refine strategies to ensure therapy remains relevant and effective for your changing life circumstances.
States Where We Provide Telehealth Anxiety Therapy
Our telehealth platform is HIPAA-compliant and designed to provide the same quality of therapeutic relationship as in-person sessions while offering the convenience and accessibility that works well for anxiety therapy treatment.
We Offer Online Anxiety Therapy in These States
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Telehealth Anxiety Therapy Sessions
Our secure video sessions allow you to engage in therapeutic work from the comfort and familiarity of your own space. Many clients with anxiety find telehealth particularly beneficial because it eliminates common barriers like transportation challenges, anticipatory anxiety about appointments, and the sensory overwhelm that can come with unfamiliar environments.
Comfort of Familiar Environment
Engage in therapy from your own safe space, whether that’s your home office or your living room. When you don’t have to navigate an unfamiliar building or a clinical setting, your nervous system can remain settled. This allows you to be more present and open from the first minute of your session.
Reduced Anticipatory Anxiety
For many, the stress of an appointment begins long before it starts. Telehealth removes the logistical hurdles of a commute, like planning for traffic, finding parking, or worrying about being late. You can join your session feeling calm and present, rather than arriving already feeling frazzled and on edge.
Privacy & Discretion
Your healing journey is your own. Telehealth removes the need for a public waiting room and eliminates any chance encounters, offering a layer of privacy that many clients find essential. You can speak freely from a space where you are guaranteed to be alone.
Accessibility
Finding a therapist who truly understands your specific challenges, like high sensitivity or professional burnout, can be difficult. Telehealth removes geographical barriers, giving you access to our specialized, doctoral-level team from any of the 43+ states and territories we serve.
Control Over Your Environment
A sensitive nervous system is highly attuned to its surroundings. An office with harsh lighting or distracting sounds can create sensory overwhelm. Telehealth puts you in complete control. You can adjust the lighting, sit in your most comfortable chair, use a weighted blanket, or have a pet nearby—whatever you need to optimize your space for emotional comfort and safety.
Frequently Asked Questions
We’ve compiled answers to some common questions about therapy for anxiety to help guide you through the process. If you need more information or have specific concerns about your anxiety therapy services, feel free to reach out to us directly. We’re here to provide support and clarity at every step.
Q: How long does it take to see improvements?
A: It varies. Some people notice relief within a few sessions once they learn new coping strategies, while others need more time for deeper healing. Our work together moves at your pace, ensuring changes feel lasting and meaningful.
Q: Do you accept insurance?
A: Polaris Psychology does not accept insurance at this time, but we can provide you with documentation that you can submit to your insurance provider for potential out-of-network reimbursement. Please check with your insurance provider to see if they cover out-of-network mental health services and to understand your reimbursement options.
Q: How much does therapy cost?
A: Each individual therapy session is $250. Payment is due at the time of the session. We accept all major credit cards, debit cards, and FSA/HSA accounts.
Q: Do you practice where I am?
A: At Polaris Psychology our licensed psychologists are authorized to practice
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Q: Will I need to take medication?
A: Not necessarily. Many clients improve with therapy alone. We can discuss medication pros and cons and coordinate with your prescriber if needed.
Q: Where can I learn more about Anxiety Therapy?
A: For general information on anxiety disorders, consider exploring authoritative resources like Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, American Psychological Association (APA), Psychology Today, and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Polaris Psychology is not affiliated with these organizations; we provide specialized anxiety therapy tailored to your unique experiences.
Ready to Take the Next Step Toward Calm? Schedule Your Free Consultation Call Today.
Imagine what it would be like to wake up without that constant knot of worry in your stomach, or to enjoy social gatherings without feeling overwhelmed. Anxiety Therapy