‍ Anxiety Therapy in Guelph and Online Across Ontario ‍

From the outside, you look like you have it all together. You meet your deadlines, remember everyone’s appointments, and show up for the people who count on you. On the inside, though, your mind rarely rests. You replay conversations, run through worst-case scenarios, and lie awake making lists, while your body stays tense and on alert long after the day is done.

This is often what high-functioning anxiety looks like: capable on the outside, worried and wound tight underneath. Because you keep functioning, it can be easy to dismiss what you are feeling, or to believe you should be able to manage it on your own. Anxiety therapy offers a space to understand what your mind and body are responding to, and to build steadier ways of moving through your days. I offer anxiety therapy online anywhere in Ontario and in person in Guelph.

What High-Functioning Anxiety Can Look Like

High-functioning anxiety is not a formal diagnosis, but it is a helpful way to describe anxiety that hides behind competence. Many people who live with it are seen as reliable, organized, and calm under pressure, which is part of why it so often goes unnoticed.

On the outside, it may look like:

• arriving early, over-preparing, and double-checking everything

• saying yes to almost every request

• holding yourself to very high standards

• staying busy and finding it hard to sit still or relax

• being the person everyone else turns to

On the inside, it may feel like:

• racing thoughts, overthinking, and replaying conversations

• a constant fear of letting people down or getting something wrong

• lying awake because your mind will not quiet

• a tight chest, clenched jaw, or unsettled stomach

• a sense that if you slow down, everything might fall apart

If several of these feel familiar, it does not mean something is wrong with you. Often these patterns developed for good reasons, helping you cope, achieve, and keep others happy. Over time, though, they can become exhausting to maintain.

Anxiety, Hormones, and Midlife Changes

Many women are surprised to find that anxiety appears or intensifies in their forties and fifties, sometimes for the first time. The hormonal shifts of perimenopause and menopause can affect mood, sleep, and the body’s stress response, which may show up as sudden waves of worry, a racing heart, irritability, or waking in the night with an uneasy feeling you cannot quite explain.

Midlife can also bring new reasons to worry: a parent’s declining health, children growing up and leaving home, changes in your career, or quiet questions about who you are becoming. When hormonal changes and life changes arrive together, it makes sense that your nervous system feels less settled than it once did.

If you suspect hormones are playing a role, it is worth speaking with your family doctor or a menopause-informed practitioner. Therapy can work alongside medical care, helping you understand your anxiety, calm your body, and feel more like yourself again.

Finding Calm Again: My Approach to Anxiety

Anxiety is not something to simply push through or think your way out of. Because it lives in both the mind and the body, my approach works with both. Our work often focuses on three areas.

Many people also worry that if they let go of their anxiety, they will lose the drive that helps them get things done. Part of our work is discovering that you can stay capable and caring without living in a constant state of alarm.

Understanding Your Anxiety

We explore what tends to set your anxiety off, the thoughts that keep it going, and the protective role it may have played in your life. Using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), we look closely at worry loops and perfectionism, and practise new ways of responding when anxious thoughts arrive.

Calming Your Body

You learn practical ways to settle your nervous system when anxiety rises, such as grounding, slower breathing, and HeartMath® techniques, along with somatic approaches that help your body feel safer. These skills are meant to fit into busy days rather than add more to them.

Changing the Patterns That Keep You on Alert

We also look at the habits that keep anxiety going, such as people-pleasing, difficulty saying no, or always preparing for the worst. Drawing on DBT skills, Emotionally Focused Therapy, and self-compassion, you build steadier ways of relating to yourself and the people around you.

Where it helps, I can also bring nutrition support into our sessions, looking at how sleep, caffeine, and blood sugar may affect your anxiety. For more in-depth support, I also offer separate holistic nutrition services.

When Anxiety Leads to Burnout

Living with anxiety takes a great deal of energy. Staying alert, anticipating problems, and working hard to keep everything under control can be draining, especially over months or years. For some people, long-term anxiety eventually gives way to burnout, where the restless worry turns into a heavy, persistent tiredness that rest does little to ease.

If that sounds familiar, you may also find it helpful to read about burnout therapy. Because anxiety and burnout are so often connected, we can work on both together, and easing one often makes space for recovery from the other.

Getting Started

Online anxiety therapy is available for adults anywhere in Ontario through Jane’s secure video platform, and many people find it easier to begin from the comfort of home. If you prefer to meet face to face, I also see clients in person on Wednesdays at Eramosa Physiotherapy - Gordon St. South in Guelph.

To begin, you can book a free 15-minute call to share what you are experiencing and ask any questions you have. Sessions are $175 for 50 minutes, and most extended health benefit plans include coverage for Registered Psychotherapists. You will find more about fees, insurance, and cancellations on my FAQ page.

Training and Experience

I am a Registered Psychotherapist (CRPO #003928) and Registered Holistic Nutrition Practitioner with more than 14 years of clinical experience. My training in anxiety includes CBT for Anxiety through the Beck Institute for Better Health, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy skills, Emotionally Focused Therapy, and self-compassion training with Dr. Kristin Neff, along with HeartMath® certification for practical, body-based tools. You can read more about my background on my About page.

Anxiety Therapy Questions