Therapy for persistent worry, panic experiences, and avoidance, at a pace you set. Registered Psychologists and Registered Provisional Psychologists regulated by the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP), alongside Registered Social Workers regulated by the Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSW), Certified Canadian Counsellors (CCCs) regulated by the Canadian Counselling and Psychological Association (CCPA), Mental Health Therapists, and Student Therapists. In-person in Edmonton and St. Albert, and virtual sessions across Alberta. 50-minute sessions, evenings and weekends available.

Book a Session | Match with a Therapist

You Might Be Wondering Whether Anxiety Treatment Is Right for You

You may not be sure whether what you are experiencing is serious enough to justify booking an appointment. Plenty of people arrive at a page like this thinking that other people have it worse, that they should be able to manage on their own, or that anxiety is simply part of their personality by now. That doubt is worth taking seriously rather than talking yourself out of.

You might recognize some of this. Lying awake running through a conversation from three days ago, looking for the moment you got it wrong. Saying yes to something and then quietly hoping it gets cancelled. Feeling your chest tighten in a grocery store queue for no reason you can point to, and then feeling embarrassed about it afterward.

These patterns are common reactions to sustained stress, uncertainty, and pressure. They are the ways a nervous system tries to keep you safe when it has learned that something might go wrong. They do not mean something is permanently broken in you, and they do not require a diagnosis before they are allowed to matter.

If you are weighing whether talking to someone could help, reading on may give you a clearer sense of what this kind of support actually involves. Nothing on this page decides anything for you.

Who We Help

Anxiety counselling at Wholesome Psychology may be a reasonable fit if you are:

• An adult, young person, or child living with persistent worry that is hard to switch off
• Experiencing panic episodes, physical tension, or a constant sense of being on alert
• Avoiding places, conversations, or opportunities because of how anxious they make you feel
• Managing anxiety alongside work, study, parenting, or caregiving demands
• Looking for information on behalf of a partner, adult child, parent, or friend
• Unsure whether therapy is warranted and wanting to talk it through with someone qualified

This service may not be the right fit in these situations:

• Immediate safety concerns. If you cannot stay safe right now, the crisis resources below are the right starting point instead of a booking form.
• Court, legal, or forensic requirements. Therapy is not an investigative or legal service. Reports, opinions, and psychological assessments are handled separately and are not part of this counselling service.
• A formal diagnosis or documentation request. Psychological assessment is a distinct service with its own process. If that is what you need, the administrative team can point you to the right pathway.
• Medication questions. Decisions about medication sit with a physician or nurse practitioner and fall outside the scope of therapy at this clinic.

If You Need Help Right Now

This page is not emergency care, and routine therapy appointments are not a substitute for urgent support. If you are in immediate danger or cannot stay safe, use one of these instead:

• 911 for immediate danger, or go to your nearest emergency department
• Alberta Mental Health Help Line: 1-877-303-2642, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741

Wholesome Psychology is not an emergency or crisis service.

What This Service Is

Anxiety counselling is a series of conversations with a regulated mental health professional, focused on how worry, fear, and avoidance are shaping your daily life and what could shift. Sessions are structured but not scripted. You and your therapist decide together what to work on and how quickly to move.

It is worth being clear about what this service is not. It is not a legal service, an investigative process, or crisis intervention. It is not a psychological assessment, and nothing on this page diagnoses anyone or determines what care a particular person needs. Psychological assessment is a separate service at this clinic with its own referral process.

Your therapist works within a defined scope of practice. That means they will tell you plainly when something falls outside what they can offer, and will discuss a referral rather than working beyond their training. What you share is treated as confidential within legal and ethical limits, which your clinician will explain at the start. The confidentiality section further down sets out those limits in detail.

The pace belongs to you. You are not required to disclose anything before you are ready, and you can ask questions about the process at any point.

Signs Anxiety May Be Affecting You

People describe anxiety-related experiences in very different ways. The list below is not a checklist or a self-test, and recognizing yourself in it does not establish a diagnosis. It may simply help you name what has been going on.

• Worry that loops and repeats, often about things you know are unlikely
• Difficulty concentrating, or losing the thread partway through a task
• Physical tension that does not ease: tight shoulders, jaw clenching, shallow breathing, an unsettled stomach
• Trouble falling asleep, or waking early with your mind already going
• Sudden surges of fear with a racing heart, dizziness, or a sense that something is badly wrong
• Avoiding situations, places, or conversations, then feeling frustrated with yourself for avoiding them
• Irritability or a short fuse with the people closest to you
• Seeking reassurance repeatedly, and finding it settles you only briefly
• Feeling exhausted by how much effort it takes to appear fine

The World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision (ICD-11) groups a range of anxiety or fear-related conditions together, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, specific phobia, social anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, and selective mutism (World Health Organization [WHO], n.d.). That grouping exists to help clinicians describe different presentations. It is not a tool for sorting yourself into a category from a webpage.

Experiences like these are common reactions rather than permanent features of who you are. They can change with structured support, and understanding them is usually the first useful step.

How Treatment Works Here

• Find your therapist. Use the Match with a Therapist tool or browse Our Therapists to read individual profiles. If you would rather talk it through, the administrative team can help at 780-904-4880.
• Book your first session. The first appointment covers confidentiality and its limits, informed consent, and what you would like help with. You are not expected to arrive with a clear plan.
• Build your plan together. You and your therapist agree on goals and an approach that fits your circumstances, preferences, and capacity. The plan is co-created rather than handed to you.
• Ongoing sessions. Follow-up appointments are often weekly or bi-weekly and are adjusted as needed. Sessions run 50 minutes.
• Progress check-ins. Your therapist reviews how things are going at regular intervals. If something is not working, the plan changes.

There is no fixed number of sessions and no standard course everyone follows. Some people come for a short, focused piece of work. Others stay longer or return later. Your view of what is helping carries weight at every stage, and saying that an approach is not working is useful information rather than a setback.

Evidence and Approaches

The approaches below are the ones best supported by the sources reviewed for this page. Which of them, if any, is appropriate for you is a conversation for your therapist, not something a webpage can determine.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

What it helps with: Patterns of worry, catastrophic thinking, physical arousal, and avoidance that keep anxiety cycling.

Evidence summary: A meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials examined CBT across anxiety-related disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and social anxiety disorder, and reported benefits for target symptoms relative to placebo conditions (Carpenter et al., 2018). The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends CBT as a high-intensity psychological option for generalised anxiety disorder and for moderate to severe panic disorder (NICE, 2020).

Limitations: Effects differed across conditions and across how trials counted people who dropped out, so results are not uniform. NICE guidance is developed for the United Kingdom health system, and individual response varies.

Applied Relaxation

What it helps with: The physical side of anxiety, including muscle tension, rapid breathing, and bodily arousal that builds through the day.

Evidence summary: NICE lists applied relaxation alongside CBT as a high-intensity psychological option for people with generalised anxiety disorder who choose that route, delivered by trained practitioners (NICE, 2020). The Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) also identifies progressive relaxation among the psychological strategies used for generalized anxiety in Canadian practice (CPA, 2020).

Limitations: The evidence reviewed here does not establish that relaxation approaches suit everyone, and NICE frames the choice between options as a matter of the person's preference. Availability depends on individual clinician training.

Psychoeducation and Guided Skills Work

What it helps with: Understanding what anxiety is doing in your body and mind, and building practical skills to use between sessions.

Evidence summary: NICE positions psychoeducation and guided self-help based on cognitive behavioural principles as lower-intensity options within a stepped approach for generalised anxiety disorder and for mild to moderate panic disorder (NICE, 2020). CPA describes problem-solving training and structured exposure work among approaches used for generalized anxiety (CPA, 2020).

Limitations: Lower-intensity options are described in guidance as a step within a wider pathway rather than a complete treatment for everyone. Some people need more structured or longer-term support.

Your therapist may draw on other approaches based on their training and your goals. No single approach suits every person, and none of these guarantees a particular outcome. You can read more about Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or general anxiety treatment at this clinic.

What Results to Expect

Progress in anxiety work is rarely a straight line. People often notice a stretch of good weeks, then a harder one, and the harder week does not undo what came before. That pattern is ordinary rather than a sign of failure.

Timelines vary widely. Some people find relief from just 2-3 sessions, particularly when there is one specific situation they want help with. Others work over a longer period, and clinical guidelines describe structured courses of CBT for generalised anxiety disorder running considerably longer than that (NICE, 2020). Neither pattern is more correct than the other.

Several things influence how therapy goes:

• What you are dealing with, and how long it has been building
• What else is happening in your life right now, including health, finances, and relationships
• How well you and your therapist work together
• How much capacity you have for work between sessions

No therapy guarantees an outcome, and any clinician who promises one is overstating what is known. Research suggests that these approaches may help, and outcomes vary between individuals.

Therapeutic fit matters more than most people expect. If the working relationship does not feel right, changing therapist or approach is always available to you and is a normal request rather than an awkward one.

Confidentiality and Privacy

What you share in therapy is treated as confidential. Your clinician keeps records securely and does not discuss your care with others without your informed, written consent, except where the law or professional standards require otherwise.

Several frameworks govern this. Psychologists at the clinic are registered with the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP) and practise under its Standards of Practice, alongside the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) Code of Ethics. Alberta privacy legislation also applies. The Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) sets the rules for how private organizations in Alberta collect, use, disclose, and retain personal information, and it generally governs psychologists working in private practice. The Health Information Act (HIA) governs health custodians such as Alberta Health Services and hospitals, and applies to psychologists working as affiliates in those settings (CAP, 2026).

Confidentiality is not absolute. Information may be disclosed without your consent in defined circumstances:

• Where there are reasonable grounds to believe disclosure is necessary to prevent imminent and grave harm to you, to another person, or to public safety
• Where a child is suspected of being in need of intervention, which carries a mandatory reporting duty under Alberta law
• Where disclosure is required by a court order or otherwise required by law

Your clinician will explain these limits clearly in the first session, before you share anything personal. You are welcome to ask how records are stored, who can access them, and what happens to your information if you stop attending. Asking those questions first is reasonable and common.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to describe everything I am anxious about in detail?

No. You decide what to share and when. Some people find it useful to talk through specific events, and others prefer to work with what is happening in the present: the worry loops, the physical tension, the situations being avoided this week. Both are legitimate places to start. Your therapist will check in about pace rather than pressing for detail you are not ready to give.

Is what I share kept private?

Yes, within legal and ethical limits. Your clinician will not disclose your information without your informed, written consent except where the law requires it, such as risk of imminent and grave harm, suspected child abuse or neglect, or a court order. The confidentiality section above sets out these limits, along with the Alberta legislation and regulatory standards that apply.

How many sessions will I need?

There is no fixed answer, and anyone who gives you a firm number before meeting you is guessing. Some people work on one specific concern over a short period. Others benefit from longer-term support, or come back at a later point. Your therapist reviews progress with you regularly and adjusts the plan, including ending sessions when the work feels done.

What if the therapist is not the right fit?

Fit is a real factor in whether therapy helps, and it is not always clear from a profile page. If it is not working, you can say so directly to your therapist or contact the administrative team at 780-904-4880, who can help you move to a different clinician. New clients may access their first session at 50% off to help find the right therapeutic fit. You can also use the Match with a Therapist tool to narrow down options before you book.

Can I access therapy online?

Yes. Virtual sessions are available across Alberta and follow the same confidentiality standards as in-person appointments. Some people prefer virtual sessions for privacy, travel time, or because leaving the house is itself difficult when anxiety is high. You can also mix formats, attending in person some weeks and virtually others.

Do I need a referral or a diagnosis to book?

No. You do not need a physician's referral or an existing diagnosis to book anxiety counselling. Some insurers ask for a referral before they reimburse, so it is worth checking your policy. If you specifically need formal documentation or a diagnostic opinion, that falls under psychological assessment, which is a separate service.

Can I book for my child, or bring a support person?

Yes to both, with some planning. The clinic offers counselling for children and young people, and caregivers are usually involved in that work. For adult sessions, some people bring a partner or family member to a first appointment. Mention it when booking so your therapist can discuss how confidentiality works when more than one person is present.

What if I am gathering information for someone else?

That is a common reason to be on a page like this. You can call 780-904-4880 to ask general questions about the process, formats, and fees. Clinicians cannot discuss another adult's care without their consent, and the person themselves will need to make the booking, but understanding how it works can make that conversation easier to start.

Meet Your Clinicians

The clinical team includes Registered Psychologists, Registered Provisional Psychologists, Registered Social Workers regulated by the Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSW), Certified Canadian Counsellors (CCCs) regulated by the Canadian Counselling and Psychological Association (CCPA), Mental Health Therapists, and Student Therapists. All psychologists are registered with the College of Alberta Psychologists and practise under its Standards of Practice. Registered Provisional Psychologists practise under the supervision of a senior registered psychologist.

Many clinicians have training in cognitive behavioural therapy, anxiety and panic-related work, and related areas such as stress, sleep, and trauma-informed practice. Every clinician works within their own scope of practice and will discuss a referral if your needs sit outside it.

You can read individual profiles on the Our Therapists page, or use the Match with a Therapist tool if choosing feels like one decision too many. The administrative team can also help at 780-904-4880.

Children and Youth

Anxiety often shows up differently in children and young people. It can look like stomach aches before school, refusing invitations, anger, clinginess, or questions asked over and over. The clinic offers counselling for children, adolescents, and young adults.

Therapists working with younger clients use age-appropriate approaches, which may include play, drawing, or activity-based sessions rather than sitting and talking for 50 minutes. Sessions are pitched to the child's developmental stage rather than a fixed format.

Caregivers are part of this work. Clinicians typically meet with parents or guardians to understand the context, discuss how confidentiality works with a minor, and talk through what helps at home. Supporting the environment around a child is usually as important as the sessions themselves. You can learn more about child and youth anxiety counselling.

Taking the Next Step

If you would like to start, there are a few ways in:

• Book a session online through the booking system
• Match with a therapist if you would rather be guided to a fit
• Call the administrative team at 780-904-4880 with questions about format, timing, or fees
• Email info@wholesomepsychology.ca
• Read the Getting Started with Therapy page for a walk-through of the process

New clients may access their first session at 50% off to help find the right therapeutic fit.

Starting the conversation is enough.

References

• Canadian Psychological Association. (2020). "Psychology Works" fact sheet: Generalized anxiety disorder (M. J. Dugas, Prep.).
• Carpenter, J. K., Andrews, L. A., Witcraft, S. M., Powers, M. B., Smits, J. A. J., & Hofmann, S. G. (2018). Cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety and related disorders: A meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials. Depression and Anxiety. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.22728 (PMID 29451967).
• College of Alberta Psychologists. (2026). Interpretive guide: Privacy legislation in Alberta.
• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. (2020). Generalised anxiety disorder and panic disorder in adults: Management (Clinical guideline CG113; published 2011, last updated June 15, 2020). https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg113
• Public Health Agency of Canada. (2016). Report from the Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System: Mood and anxiety disorders in Canada, 2016. Government of Canada.
• Stephenson, E., & Fournier, A. (2026). Investigating disparities in mental health care service use among people with mood and anxiety disorders. Statistics Canada, Health Reports (Catalogue no. 82-003-X). https://doi.org/10.25318/82-003-x202600100001-eng
• World Health Organization. (n.d.). ICD-11 for mortality and morbidity statistics: Anxiety or fear-related disorders. Retrieved September 6, 2026, from https://icd.who.int/en