If your mind won't switch off, your sleep is broken, you're bracing for the next thing or your body is fizzing with adrenaline for no obvious reason — you are not "just anxious", and you are not stuck with it. Anxiety counselling in Marlow can help you reclaim calm. The aim is not to make you fearless; it's to give you your life back.
I'm Keeley Taverner, a Psychotherapist, BACP Accredited. Over 14 years as a psychotherapist and 18 years in mental health I've worked with anxiety in every form — generalised worry, panic attacks, social anxiety, health anxiety, performance anxiety, and the deep hyper-vigilance that can follow a toxic or controlling relationship. My approach is integrative, drawing on CBT, ACT, EMDR and person-centred work, so the therapy fits you rather than the other way round.
What does anxiety actually feel like?
Anxiety is the body and mind preparing for a threat that may or may not actually be there. It's an alarm system that's doing its job too well. People describe it as a racing mind, a tight chest, a knot in the stomach, broken sleep, hyper-vigilance ("waiting for the bad thing"), or a panic that arrives out of nowhere and feels frightening in itself.
Panic attacks are brief, intense surges of fear with physical symptoms — pounding heart, breathlessness, dizziness, a sense something terrible is about to happen. They are not dangerous, even when they feel that way, and they respond well to therapy. Generalised anxiety is the steadier, lower-level worry that's harder to point at but quietly drains your week.
Anxiety isn't a character flaw and it doesn't mean you're "weak". It means a part of your nervous system is doing overtime — usually for a reason that once made sense, even if it doesn't now.
Signs you might benefit from therapy for anxiety
People come to anxiety counselling in Marlow when the cost is starting to outweigh the coping. You might recognise:
- Your mind races or replays things you can't switch off
- You're not sleeping properly, or you wake up wired
- Your chest feels tight, your stomach knotted, your jaw clenched
- You're avoiding places, people or situations that used to feel fine
- Panic attacks come out of nowhere — or you're scared they will
- You feel hyper-vigilant, "switched on" or unable to relax
- You're drinking more, scrolling more or working more to take the edge off
- You're worn out from holding it all together
You do not need to be in crisis to deserve support. Anxiety is one of the most responsive things therapy can work with — earlier is easier, but it's never too late.
How therapy for anxiety and panic attacks works
There's no single technique that fits everyone, so I draw on what suits you. In practice, anxiety work usually combines:
- Understanding your anxiety — what triggers it, what fuels it, and what your nervous system has learned to expect.
- Calming the body — practical, evidence-based skills (breathwork, grounding, somatic and ACT-based tools) to bring the physical alarm down.
- Working with the thoughts — CBT-informed work on the patterns that keep worry, rumination and panic going.
- Getting to the root — where it's helpful, gently exploring earlier experiences (including toxic relationships, trauma or hyper-vigilant childhoods) that taught your system to stay on alert.
The goal isn't to feel nothing. It's to feel like yourself again — with anxiety as a passenger, not the driver.
Anxiety after a toxic relationship
If your anxiety arrived — or got worse — during or after a toxic or controlling relationship, you are far from alone. Hyper-vigilance is a normal response to an environment where you had to read someone else's mood for safety. The work overlaps closely with narcissistic abuse recovery and toxic relationship counselling, and we can hold both alongside each other in your sessions.
Your anxiety therapist in Marlow — in-person & online
I see clients in person at The Courtyard, 60 Station Road, Marlow SL7 1NX — a quiet, private space a short walk from Marlow town centre and easily reached from Bourne End, Maidenhead, High Wycombe, Henley-on-Thames and the surrounding Buckinghamshire villages. If you're searching for an anxiety therapist near me, online sessions are also available — secure video therapy across the UK. If leaving the house is part of what anxiety is making harder, online can be a gentler way in. Sessions are £250 and completely confidential.
The simplest first step is a free, no-pressure 30-minute consultation — a chance to talk, ask questions, and see how it feels to be heard. There is no obligation to book anything further.
