Working with Anxiety: A Humanistic and Creative Path

If you’re living with anxiety, you know how it can appear uninvited—or linger constantly in the background. It often shows up as physical sensations, like a tightness in your chest or a churning in your stomach, clouding your thoughts and making even simple moments feel overwhelming.

As an integrative humanistic counsellor, I work with people who are navigating this inner storm. In our work together, I bring a person-centred approach, which means I see you as the expert of your own experience. My role isn’t to fix or advise you, but to walk beside you — with empathy, honesty, and respect — as you explore what’s going on beneath the surface. You are a whole person, doing your best, and that’s where we begin.

Sometimes, talking is enough. Other times, words can feel limiting, especially when anxiety lives in your body or shows up as images, sensations, or emotions that are hard to name. That’s where creative therapy comes in. You might find expression through drawing, metaphor, or journaling. You don’t need to be “artistic”, it’s not about making something perfect, but about the process, giving form to your inner experience in a way that feels true.

Alongside this, I may gently introduce elements of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), particularly when anxiety feels overwhelming or confusing. This might look like exploring the patterns between your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, and offering simple tools to help you notice and challenge unhelpful thought loops — always at your pace, and with your permission. Rather than directing the process, I use CBT techniques in a way that aligns with my humanistic ethos: as supportive options you can try on and keep (or leave) depending on what feels right for you.

You set the pace. Whether we stay with gentle conversation or explore more expressive ways of working, the space is always yours. Over time, you might start to see your anxiety in a new light — not as something to fight, but as something to understand, to meet with compassion. And from that place, things can shift. And with the right support, healing is possible — not by becoming someone else, but by reconnecting with who you already are.