Integrative Therapy for Anxiety with LGBTQ+ Adults and Adult Children of Immigrants in Oakland & Online in California
Anxiety can cause us to feel limited in our life.
With an integrative therapy approach, I help LGBTQ+ adults, trans and nonbinary adults, and adult children of immigrants unburden themselves from the anxiety that keeps creeping in despite earnest efforts to will it away.
You don’t have to white-knuckle your anxiety anymore.
On the outside, you’re the image of calm, steady & stable. Beneath the surface, you’re running on fumes trying to hold it all together. You’re doing everything you can to not fall apart.
Sometimes the anxiety feels condensed in your head. It’s the racing thoughts at 3AM, ever-looping fears that won’t turn off, and panic of all the things that could go to shit. It’s feeling stuck in decisions half-made, unsure which direction would keep you feeling safe and true to yourself at the same time. It’s the mounting pressure and silent pleas for there to not be anything added to your plate, while not trusting yourself to say no if someone asked for help.
Other times, anxiety announces itself through the body. You start to sweat. You feel nauseous. You can’t focus. You’re irritable. Your head is pounding. You’re vibrating with a nervous energy that won’t settle.
Your body has learned that action—always moving, going, doing—is what regulates you.
I’ll help you learn how to find safety in stillness and use your intuition as a trustworthy guide.
Emotions want to move. We can learn to let them.
In Oakland and online in California, I offer LGBTQ+ adults and adult children of immigrants an emotionally engaging, compassionate container to tend to the anxiety that isn’t just about being stressed out. This is the anxiety that comes from years of self-abandonment and feeling overly responsible for everyone else’s emotions and choices.
With an integrative therapy approach, I help you release what’s beneath the anxiety with care, understanding and respect, and at a pace your nervous system can handle.
Anxiety is fear trying to move through you. We’ll clear the path—together.
Anxiety tells us that there’s something unresolved inside. What happens if we allow ourselves to listen?
Anxiety leads us back to fear that hasn’t been cared for in our bodies. At my Lake Merritt Oakland office and online across California, I meet your anxiety with active engagement, presence, attunement, and playfulness. I help you learn that it’s safe to slow down enough to be with what wants your attention. We can learn to turn toward and be with our fear without letting it take over.
With compassionate guidance, no bullshit honesty, and rich insight, I can help you settle your nervous system, re-pattern coping behaviors that hurt instead of help, and guide you back to the parts of yourself that need the most love, care, and respect.
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Anxiety comes in many forms and can look differently based on your life circumstances and identities. You might struggle from anxiety if you:
Experience ongoing worry even after tangible stressors have passed
Cling onto control and predictability
Worry about doing the “wrong” thing or being “bad”
Replay conversations or situations in your head, wondering if you made a mistake or upset someone
Feel directed by an inner critic that uses “should” statements (I should do more, I should go for that promotion, I shouldn’t cancel my plans with friends even though I can barely keep my eyes open)
Feel scared to set boundaries or even say yes to things you want
Struggle with self-doubt and low self-esteem
Avoid taking risks or trying new things, especially if you can’t control the outcome or worry about looking “bad” in front of others
Tip toe around uncomfortable topics or avoid conflict because you’re scared to say what’s bothering you in case it makes things “worse”
Get stuck in all-or-nothing thinking
Ruminate on worst case scenarios (and there’s so many!)
If any of these resonate with you, then individual therapy in Oakland or online for anxiety might be a good fit for you.
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Anxiety is rarely a one-hit wonder.
In my practice in Oakland and online across California, I work with LGBTQ+ adults and adult children of immigrants who experience anxiety in conjunction with low self-esteem, depression, insomnia, relationship struggles, social anxiety, and trauma.
Sometimes we focus on symptoms of anxiety first because they can be the most distracting or disruptive. We prioritize settling your nervous system enough to be able to address other concerns you may be experiencing.
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Many clients in my practice feel confused by their anxiety. They’re high-achievers and perfectionists who are used to being on top of things—their schedules, commitments, careers, family expectations, and relationships.
As LGBTQ+ adults and adult children of immigrants, they feel like they’ve been primed and prepared for hardship. They expect to be able to handle their anxiety, no biggie. So when the anxiety comes and they can’t get a grip on it, they feel defeated, frustrated, and scared.
They don’t realize that their usual methods of coping with life—through over-functioning, taking care of others, and trying to control the uncontrollable—is keeping them stuck in a nonstop stress response.
Anxiety isn’t something that’ll resolve with quick fixes. In my practice, I help you tend to the unresolved emotions that drive anxiety instead of trying to just manage the symptoms.
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As an integrative therapist in Oakland, I use a combination of modalities to treat anxiety.
Through relational psychodynamic therapy, we explore your early childhood relationships to understand how you learned—or didn’t learn—to feel safe and secure. We make space for what happened that led you to survive in the ways you did, including over-achieving, people-pleasing, and over-functioning. In relational therapy, I invite us to notice how we relate to each other, including what parts of the therapy work feel difficult / uncomfortable and what parts feel easeful.
With somatic therapy, I help you connect with your body. Many of us have been taught to ignore, devalue, or criticize our bodies. When we move through life with urgency in an attempt to avoid anxiety and overwhelm, we often miss important cues from our body to take care of ourselves in the ways we need. This approach includes relaxation techniques, guided visualizations, and breath work.
Through Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, we aim to understand the different parts that make up who you are and how you feel and act. We get to know the parts that hold your anxiety, and the parts that respond to your anxiety, such as through distraction, dissociation, avoidance, or denial. By getting to know these parts, we can feel less pressured to perform or protect. We can feel freed up to make decisions that align with how we want to live our lives and restore our true sense of self.
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LGBTQ+ adults might experience anxiety for a variety of reasons.
Being awake to the state of our current political climate is enough to generate stress and fear that gets stuck in the body, turning into anxiety. LGBTQ+ adults may also experience anxiety as a result of early and adult experiences of neglect, abuse, conditional care, and trauma.
In my practice working with LGBTQ+ adults in Oakland and online throughout California, I seek to understand the fuller picture of your anxiety so that you get the comprehensive healing you need.
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Adult children of immigrants may experience anxiety for a variety of reasons.
Often, growing up in environments where there’s high expectations of filial piety, caretaking, and success can lead to feelings of fear and guilt that don’t get to be expressed fully.
As an Oakland-based therapist who specializes in working with adult children of immigrants, I offer a relational, compassionate healing space to mobilize stuck feelings, question unspoken expectations, and imagine a life outside of being needed and fulfilling standards of “goodness.”
“Healing is an orientation to living rather than a destination.”
Prentis Hemphill
You can have a rich, full life without feeling overtaken by fear.
Book a free 20-minute video call. We’ll explore what feels limiting in your life now, release what holds you back, and make space for all the possibilities of who you can become.