Kelsey Ballah
Associate Therapist, MACP, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), EMDR & Couples/Family Therapist
Anxiety Therapy in Mississauga, ON
Is Your Anxiety Running the Show?
Does it feel like you are going through life holding your breath, bracing yourself for something to go wrong?
Does your mind relentlessly jump to worst-case scenarios, map out every possible outcome, and plan escape routes even before there is a problem?
When anxiety is in charge, there is a constant sense that every choice you make could trigger a landmine. Even small everyday decisions—how to respond to a message, handle a request at work, or even make a simple plan—feel unbearably high-stakes. You replay conversations and interactions over and over, like you have an internal alarm system that is constantly scanning your actions and environment for mistakes, judgment, or rejection, never letting you rest. Fear and self-doubt slowly become your default.
On The Outside, It May Look Like You Have It All Together…
You get things done, keep commitments, and show up for others—but inside, it can feel very different. People may see your efficiency, reliability, or calm demeanor—but what they can’t see is the constant sense that every choice you make could trigger a landmine.
Uncertainty is uncomfortable for all of us, but when you are experiencing anxiety, it can feel unbearable, like a threat—pushing you to seek control or reassurance just to feel safe. To avoid uncertainty, you avoid conflict or criticism, overcommit, people-please, or seek reassurance. Over time, your needs become secondary, creating an unsustainable dynamic in relationships that leaves you exhausted, resentful, and unsure of what you truly want. Relationships can feel emotionally draining, obligations overwhelming, and simply taking care of yourself can seem impossible.
Anxiety Isn’t Broken—It’s A Signal
Anxiety is a natural response to stress and uncertainty. For many people, anxiety begins early in life, especially if they grew up in environments that felt critical, unpredictable, or emotionally unsafe and unsupportive. In response, the nervous system learns to stay on high alert to cope and stay protected. Many adapt by learning to people-please, avoid mistakes or keep the peace to feel safe and more in control. Though helpful at first, these patterns often grow exhausting and limiting.
Anxiety often arrives not as an enemy, but as a messenger—signaling that these coping strategies are no longer working. What once protected you may now be asking more of you than it gives back.
In 2023, around 15 percent of adults in Canada reported they had been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. (1) Yet only about 38 percent of adults with an anxiety or mood disorder receive a diagnosis within the first year of symptom onset, with many waiting anywhere from five to ten years before being formally diagnosed. (2) During this time, people often miss out on the full treatment they need, allowing their anxiety disorder to become deeply entrenched—but with insight and the right support, you can reclaim your life.
The Hidden Impact of Anxiety—And the Path Forward
While anxiety is often measured by the distress it brings, its truest cost is subtler: the space it takes up inside you, and the energy, attention, and emotional bandwidth it quietly consumes—along with the rest, connection, curiosity, experiences, and growth it takes from you. Anxiety doesn’t just hurt; it narrows your world. It steals moments of ease, mutes your capacity to learn new ways of being, and quietly pulls you away from the life you might otherwise be living.
The good news is that anxiety therapy can help. By understanding anxiety—how it operates and the full impact it has on your mind, body and behavior—and equipping yourself with the right tools, it’s possible to live a lighter, happier life filled with more space, intention and authenticity.
Therapy Can Help You Think About Anxiety Differently
Our counsellors understand anxiety deeply and can provide you with proven strategies in a safe, supportive space, ensuring you make real progress. Our approach begins by building safety and trust with you, grounded in presence, authenticity, and attunement. Together, we get to know your unique experience of anxiety and discover its root causes, while giving you the time and space to move at a comfortable pace.
We also explore what emotions surround the anxiety, examining what it’s avoiding or trying to protect you from, what it believes about you, and what it makes you feel about yourself, others, and the world. Oftentimes, we learn there’s a young, scared part holding onto the anxiety who never learned how to recognize and express emotions. Your therapist can help you set healthy boundaries, express your needs, and act authentically, even when anxiety is present.
The Only Way Out Is Through: What to Expect
Anxiety isn’t something to fight—but something trying to guide you toward healing, growth, and inner freedom. On the other side of anxiety therapy is clarity, confidence, and a deeper connection to yourself.
You don’t have to face this journey alone. True change happens in a space where you feel seen, understood, and supported without judgment. With the guidance of a compassionate therapist, you can safely explore the parts of yourself you’ve been avoiding and finally understand what your anxiety is trying to tell you.
Our anxiety therapists walk alongside you with curiosity and care, helping you explore your internal experiences and discover proven strategies and tools tailored to you—so you can move forward feeling grounded, empowered, and more at ease.
Anxiety Therapy Tailored To Your Needs
We understand that anxiety is complex, so we take a holistic, personalized approach. By combining evidence-based treatments for your unique needs and preferences, we aim to transform how you think about and relate to anxiety.
Anxiety therapy looks different for everyone, and we follow your lead, incorporating what is most relevant to you. Together, we’ll uncover insights and decode the messages and lessons anxiety holds for you.
Whether that’s unearthing thought patterns via Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) or addressing and understanding trapped fears and emotions with Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), with increased awareness, you can identify emotions in real-time and experience them without them becoming anxiety.
To shift the physical experience of anxiety, we use mindfulness, grounding techniques, breathwork, and polyvagal therapy, helping you recognize and respond to your body’s signals. Your feedback guides the process.
We also explore the roots of anxiety using Psychodynamic therapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS), or Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), working to heal it at its source.
Anxiety steals time and focus, which may have deprived you of developing important life skills. Utilizing Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), you can cultivate distress tolerance, mindfulness, emotional regulation, boundaries, and internal awareness. Metacognitive Therapy (MCT) helps reshape your beliefs about emotions, challenging myths that feelings are endless or harmful.
If you are reading this, you are exactly where you need to be to take your power back. With the fresh perspective therapy provides, anxiety can become a guide, not a barrier, to living fully and meaningfully. As your mind becomes less focused on threat, space opens for healing and growth—inviting freedom, stillness, and calm into your life.
You May Still Be Wondering If Anxiety Therapy Is Right For You…
That’s an understandable concern. Anxiety itself comes at a cost- often draining your energy, focus and sense of presence in daily life. Therapy can help you not only manage symptoms but also identify its root causes, allowing you to live more authentically and efficiently.
Many clients share that investing time in therapy ultimately gives them time back—freeing up mental and emotional space for work, relationships, rest, and activities they enjoy.
Research shows therapy—whether it’s online or in-person—effectively reduces anxiety, and helps build coping skills. (3) Online sessions are just as effective and offer flexibility, privacy, and convenience; letting you get support from wherever you feel most at ease. Your comfort matters throughout this process, as feeling safe ensures better outcomes.
We understand how discouraging it can be to invest time and hope into therapy and feel like it didn’t make a difference. You’re not alone in that experience—and it doesn’t mean therapy can’t work for you. Therapy isn’t one-size-fits-all. Different approaches, timing, and therapeutic relationships can lead to very different outcomes. Sharing what did and didn’t work for you in the past helps us tailor the process to your needs. Being open about your hesitations allows us to move at a pace that feels right and increases the likelihood of meaningful, lasting change in your everyday life.
We’re Eager To Help You Get Anxiety Under Control
It's possible to understand, and grow from, your anxiety rather than be controlled by it. To find out more about online anxiety therapy at Meaningfully Connected Counselling and schedule a free 20-minute consultation with us, please call (647) 797-0703 or visit our contact page.
counselors
Meet our Therapists
Diana Jakovic
Associate Therapist, BA (Hons), MACP, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)
Catherine McMullan
Associate Therapist, BSW, MSW, Registered Social Worker & Psychotherapist & Couples Therapist
Hiba Chughtai
Associate Individual Therapist, BA, Msc., Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)
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