Therapy for anxiety in Amersham and online
One-to-one counselling with Jen Morrison, BACP-registered therapist, for the kind of anxiety that’s become too tiring to keep managing on your own.
The worry starts before your feet hit the floor. Or it shows up at 3am, or in the gap after you’ve sent a message, or right before you do something that should be perfectly fine. By the time you notice it’s there, it’s already been running for hours.
A lot of the people who come to me with anxiety have been living with it for years. They know it well. They’ve also learned to work around it, to keep it hidden, to push through it so that everyone around them thinks they’re doing fine. That tends to take more energy than they ever tell anyone.
By the time someone books in, they’re often worn out. They’re also not quite sure what therapy can do for something this familiar and this stuck. It’s a fair question, and the rest of this page is my attempt to answer it.
Some of the shapes anxiety takes
The worry that won’t switch off
The constant loop of “what if” that never quite lets you land. Even in the calm moments, part of you is watching for what might go wrong next.
Panic that arrives without warning
A tightening in the chest, a racing heart, the feeling that something terrible is about to happen. Panic can arrive in the supermarket, on the train, in the middle of an ordinary conversation. And once it has, a small part of you stays braced for the next one.
The dread that sits underneath ordinary life
On the surface, everything looks fine. The job, the relationships, the logistics of the week. But there’s a low-grade weight to all of it, a sense of something being off that you can’t quite name.
The body that won’t rest
Tight shoulders, a clenched jaw, shallow breathing, the wired-and-tired feeling that sleep doesn’t quite touch. Sometimes the anxiety is loudest in the body, long before you’ve named what you’re worried about.
The version nobody else sees
The kind of anxiety that hides behind being on top of things. Where the cost is paid in private, at 2am, in rereading emails, in the exhaustion of keeping up with your own standards. People tell you they wish they had your energy. They don’t know what it’s taking.
Who comes to see me
A lot of my anxiety clients arrive saying something similar. It’s been manageable until recently. A promotion, a new relationship, a bereavement, a baby, a house move. Something has tipped it, and now the anxiety is running the show.
Most of them are highly capable people. Students in the middle of exams, working professionals handling more than anyone realises, parents holding a family together through something hard. The kind of people who rarely ask for help until the cost of not asking has become too high.
If that sounds like you, I’d love to hear from you.
How we’d work on it together
A person-centred approach
There’s no fixed protocol to follow, no programme you need to fit into, and no destination I’ve already mapped out. We start with you, and with what’s happening right now, what’s making it worse, what you’ve already tried, and what you’re most tired of.
How the work unfolds
From there, the work moves in whatever direction feels right. Sometimes we spend time understanding where the anxiety came from, sometimes we look at what’s feeding it day to day, and sometimes we just sit with how heavy it’s been, because naming something out loud to someone who is really listening tends to change how it feels.
Compassionate Inquiry
I’m also trained in Compassionate Inquiry, an approach developed by Dr Gabor Maté. It helps us get underneath the anxious thoughts and explore the stories you’ve been living by for a very long time. The ones about what you have to do to be safe, or good enough, or loved. Hearing those stories out loud, in a room where you feel safe, tends to do something that thinking about them on your own never quite manages.
Read about how I work
What tends to shift
Anxiety rarely disappears entirely, and I wouldn’t trust anyone who promised that. But it stops running the show, and a lot more room opens up for everything else.
People often notice things like:
- Waking without the knot already in your stomach
- Not replaying a conversation from two weeks ago
- Sitting through a film without reaching for your phone
- Taking a compliment without batting it away
- Catching the urge to overexplain, and choosing not to
- Remembering that resting is something you’re allowed to do
This usually happens gradually rather than all at once. Often it’s something you notice in hindsight, after a day or a week that felt lighter without you realising why.
A note if you’re in acute crisis
If the anxiety has reached the point where you’re not safe, or you’re struggling to get through the day, weekly therapy with me may not be what you need most right now. NHS 111, your GP, or the Samaritans (116 123) can offer support sooner than a therapy slot can. I’d still love to hear from you when things feel a little steadier.
The details
- Session length: 50 minutes
- Fee: £65 per session
- Availability: Daytime and evening appointments available, in person in Old Amersham or online via Zoom
Ready to get started
Your first conversation with me is always free. Book a free 15-minute consultation, ask me anything you want, and get a real feel for how I work before you decide anything at all.
Or send me a message first if you prefer.