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Serotonic Wellness

Serotonic WellnessSerotonic WellnessSerotonic Wellness

Anxiety

Compassionate, Evidence-Based Support for Anxiety Using CBT & Exposure Therapy

 Anxiety can feel overwhelming, exhausting, and isolating. Whether you’re dealing with constant worry, panic attacks, social anxiety, intrusive thoughts, or avoidance behaviors, you don’t have to manage it alone.

At Serotonic Wellness, I provide anxiety therapy for teens and adults in Tacoma and throughout Washington via secure telehealth. My approach combines Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and exposure-based strategies to help you understand your anxiety, reduce its impact, and build real-world coping skills that last.

What Is Anxiety?

Anxiety is more than just feeling stressed or nervous. It often shows up as:

  • Racing or intrusive thoughts 
  • Physical symptoms (tight chest, rapid heartbeat, nausea, dizziness) 
  • Panic attacks 
  • Avoidance of people, places, or situations 
  • Difficulty sleeping or concentrating
  • Constant “what if” thinking 

Left untreated, anxiety can shrink your world. Therapy helps you gently expand it again.

How CBT Helps Treat Anxiety

 Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the most researched and effective treatments for anxiety disorders.

CBT focuses on the connection between:

  • Thoughts 
  • Emotions 
  • Behaviors 

In therapy, we work together to:

  • Identify anxious thought patterns
  • Learn how to challenge unhelpful beliefs 
  • Practice healthier ways of responding to stress
  • Build emotional regulation skills 
  • Increase confidence and self-trust 

CBT is practical, collaborative, and goal-oriented. You’ll learn tools you can use outside of sessions—not just talk about what’s wrong.

Exposure Therapy: Gently Reducing Fear Over Time

 Avoidance keeps anxiety strong. Exposure therapy works by slowly and safely helping you face feared situations, sensations, or thoughts instead of avoiding them.

Exposure is always:

  • Collaborative
  • Gradual 
  • Trauma-informed
  • Based on your comfort level 

We create a personalized plan that may include:

  • Facing avoided situations step by step 
  • Learning to tolerate uncomfortable body sensations 
  • Practicing real-life scenarios between sessions
  • Reducing safety behaviors that reinforce anxiety 

Over time, your nervous system learns that you are capable—and that the feared outcome doesn’t control you.

Exposure therapy doesn’t mean being thrown into your worst fear. It means building confidence through supported practice.

Conditions I Commonly Treat

 

I work with clients experiencing:

  • Generalized anxiety
  • Panic disorder 
  • Social anxiety 
  • Health anxiety 
  • Phobias 
  • OCD-related anxiety 
  • Stress and burnout 
  • Anxiety connected to ADHD, life transitions, or trauma 

Treatment is individualized and paced to your needs.

What to Expect in Anxiety Therapy

 Your sessions will be supportive, structured, and collaborative. We’ll focus on:

  • Understanding your unique anxiety patterns 
  • Learning coping and grounding strategies
  • Setting achievable goals 
  • Practicing CBT tools 
  • Integrating exposure work when appropriate 
  • Tracking progress and adjusting treatment as needed 

You don’t need to have everything figured out before starting. We build clarity together.


I provide virtual therapy to clients across Washington, making it easier to fit counseling into your life, no commuting required.


Telehealth is ideal for anxiety treatment and allows us to:

  • Practice real-world exposure from your own environment
  • Maintain consistency in care
  • Reduce barriers like travel time or scheduling conflicts

Copyright © 2025 Stephanie Groepper, LMHC - All Rights Reserved.