Therapy for Anxiety in Chicago & Northfield
Find relief from worry, panic, and overwhelm.
When anxiety feels like it’s running your life, therapy can help you take back control. Our experienced therapists provide compassionate, evidence-based treatment to help you calm your nervous system, quiet your mind, and feel like yourself again.
You Don't Have to Live in Constant Worry
Has the pressure of navigating career expectations, parenting, a recent breakup, or trying to figure out your life path begun to feel overwhelming? Maybe you feel as if you’re living in a state of heightened stress due to multiple things building up over time?
You’re not alone, and you’re not broken. What you’re experiencing is anxiety, and it’s one of the most common mental health challenges people face.
At Third Coast Wellness, we provide specialized therapy for anxiety in Chicago and Northfield. Anxiety presents as frequent worries, intrusive and fearful thoughts, and feelings of unease and panic. The symptoms associated with anxiety can even affect your physical health as well as interfere with daily activities such as schoolwork, career performance, self-care, and relationships.
The good news? Therapy with one of our trained clinicians can help. We’ll work together to identify your unique triggers, dissolve the toxic thoughts creating your anxiety, and teach you practical tools to feel calm and in control again.
Who Anxiety Therapy Is For
Anxiety therapy is for anyone whose worry, fear, or panic is interfering with their ability to live fully. Whether your anxiety is constant or comes in waves, mild or debilitating, you deserve support.
This therapy is right for you if you’re experiencing:
✓ Feeling nervous, restless, or tense most of the time
✓ A sense of impending danger, panic, or dread
✓ Difficulty controlling worry or ruminating thoughts that won’t stop
✓ Increased heart rate, panic sensations, or feeling like you can’t breathe
✓ Avoidance of situations, places, or people that trigger anxiety
✓ Physical symptoms like nausea, numbness, or a constant “sick” feeling
✓ Insomnia or difficulty falling or staying asleep
✓ Your mind going blank during important moments
✓ Changes in appetite, eating too much or too little
✓ Feeling irritable, on edge, or angry without clear reason
✓ Perfectionism or fear of failure that paralyzes you
✓ Social anxiety or fear of judgment from others
Why Choose Anxiety Therapy at Third Coast Wellness
Our approach goes beyond surface-level coping. We help you understand the root causes of your anxiety and build lasting tools for managing it effectively.
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Expert Anxiety Treatment
Our therapists specialize in anxiety disorders and understand the complex ways anxiety affects your thoughts, body, and behavior. We use evidence-based approaches proven to provide real, lasting relief.
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Personalized, Collaborative Care
Your anxiety is unique to you, shaped by your experiences, triggers, and nervous system. We create a personalized treatment plan that addresses your specific symptoms and goals, working collaboratively to help you regain control.
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Practical Tools That Work
We don’t just talk about anxiety. We teach you concrete techniques for regulating your nervous system, challenging anxious thoughts, and responding to triggers in healthier ways. Skills you’ll use for the rest of your life.
Our Treatment Approaches for Anxiety
We use evidence-based, proven therapies designed to help you understand your anxiety and develop effective tools for managing it.
CBT is one of the most effective treatments for anxiety. It helps you identify and challenge the thought patterns that fuel your worry and panic. You'll learn to recognize catastrophic thinking, test the accuracy of your fears, and replace anxious thoughts with more balanced, realistic ones. CBT also includes exposure techniques to help you face feared situations gradually and safely, breaking the avoidance cycle that keeps anxiety strong.
DBT provides practical skills for managing intense anxiety and emotional overwhelm. You'll learn distress tolerance techniques for getting through anxiety attacks, emotion regulation skills for preventing anxiety spirals, and mindfulness practices for staying grounded in the present moment instead of catastrophizing about the future.
Mindfulness helps you develop a different relationship with anxiety. Instead of fighting or avoiding anxious thoughts and sensations, you learn to observe them without judgment, reducing their power over you. We'll teach you breathing techniques, body awareness practices, and meditation tools that calm your nervous system and bring you back to the present moment.
One of the key components of easing anxiety is regulating the nervous system, which often becomes heightened and stuck in the sympathetic "fight or flight" mode. We'll teach and guide you through simple relaxation techniques to quiet your mind, calm your body, and restore your nervous system to a state of safety and ease.
For specific phobias and panic triggers, we use gradual, supported exposure therapy. This evidence-based approach helps you face feared situations in a controlled way, proving to your brain that what you fear isn't as dangerous as it feels. We move at your pace, always ensuring you feel supported and in control.
How Anxiety Therapy Works
Starting therapy when you’re already anxious can feel overwhelming. We make the process as simple and comfortable as possible.
Step 1: Schedule a Free Consultation
Reach out through our online booking or call us directly. We offer a free 10–15 minute phone consultation to discuss what’s bringing you to therapy, clarify your goals, review insurance and payment options, and ensure we’re the right fit.
Step 2: Complete an Initial Assessment
Your first two sessions are assessment sessions lasting about 55 minutes each. We’ll explore your personal history, current symptoms, and therapy goals. Together, we’ll build a collaborative treatment plan that reflects your values and desired outcomes.
Step 3: Start Your Therapy Journey
After your assessment, ongoing individual therapy sessions last 50–55 minutes. They’re focused, collaborative, and paced according to your comfort level. We believe therapy works best when you feel safe, supported, and empowered to lead your own healing process.
What to Expect from Anxiety Therapy
Our work together can lead to meaningful, lasting relief from anxiety. Not by eliminating worry completely (that’s not realistic), but by giving you tools to manage it effectively.
You can expect to:
✓ Identify your unique anxiety triggers and patterns
✓ Dissolve toxic thoughts that create and fuel your anxiety
✓ Regulate your nervous system and calm fight-or-flight responses
✓ Learn relaxation techniques to quiet your mind and body
✓ Combat negative and catastrophic thought patterns
✓ Reduce avoidance behaviors that keep anxiety strong
✓ Improve sleep, appetite, and physical symptoms
✓ Regain a sense of control over your life
✓ Feel like yourself again, with lasting confidence and peace
Anxiety Affects Millions, But There's a Way Through
“One of the key components of easing anxiety is to regulate the nervous system which often becomes heightened and stuck in the sympathetic ‘fight or flight’ mode.”
In 2021, the World Health Organization found that 1 in 13 people struggle with anxiety. Many attempt to cope with these uncomfortable feelings by engaging in self-soothing behaviors such as avoiding friends and family by skipping social engagements, drinking to excess, or spending hours engaged in mind-numbing activities like gaming, social media, or binge-watching shows.
While these strategies might provide temporary relief, they can negatively impact our ability to successfully navigate our day-to-day lives, keeping us trapped in a state of avoidance instead of getting to the root cause of what’s specifically causing our anxiety cycle.
At Third Coast Wellness, we specialize in anxiety therapy in Chicago and Northfield using evidence-based approaches that create real, lasting change. We don’t just help you manage symptoms. We help you understand what’s driving your anxiety, regulate your nervous system, and build confidence in your ability to handle whatever life throws your way.
Our therapists are trained in the most effective treatments for anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety, panic disorder, social anxiety, health anxiety, and specific phobias. We provide compassionate, collaborative care that honors your pace while gently challenging you to grow.
Collaboratively, we will decrease your anxiety and support you while you regain a sense of control over life and feel like yourself again.
Our Dedicated Team
Founder & Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor
Alison Kramme, M.A., LCPC
Currently seeing clients in-person at Northfield or virtually via TeleHealth.
Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor
Courtney Rankin, MA, LCPC
Currently seeing clients in-person in Chicago or virtually via TeleHealth.
Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor
Sandra Stevens, MA, LCPC
Currently seeing clients in-person in Chicago or virtually via TeleHealth.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to Get Started
Taking the first step when you’re anxious takes real courage. We’re here to make the process as easy and comfortable as possible.
Free phone consultations are available.
You can get in touch by calling, emailing, or booking online. We’ll answer your questions, discuss your anxiety symptoms, and help you feel confident about starting treatment.
Many people start noticing improvement within 4-8 sessions as they learn and practice new coping skills. More significant, lasting change typically happens over 3-6 months of consistent work. The timeline varies based on the severity of your anxiety, how long you've been experiencing it, and how actively you practice skills between sessions.
Not necessarily. Therapy alone is highly effective for many people with anxiety. For some, a combination of therapy and medication (prescribed by a psychiatrist or primary care doctor) works best. We can discuss what might be right for you and coordinate with your medical providers if medication is something you're considering.
This is a common concern, and it makes sense. Initially, focusing on anxiety can feel uncomfortable. However, avoidance actually strengthens anxiety over time. In therapy, we approach your anxiety in a safe, controlled way, teaching you tools as we go so you feel equipped to handle what comes up. You're always in control of the pace.
Absolutely. Research shows that online therapy is just as effective as in-person for anxiety treatment. We offer secure telehealth throughout Illinois, which many clients prefer for its convenience and the comfort of being in their own space.
Everyone worries sometimes. Anxiety becomes a disorder when worry is excessive, difficult to control, persists for months, and significantly interferes with your daily life, relationships, work, or wellbeing. If anxiety is holding you back from living the life you want, therapy can help.
You Deserve to Feel at Peace
You don’t have to live with constant worry, panic, or that sick feeling in your stomach. You don’t have to keep avoiding the life you want to live because anxiety is running the show.
Relief is possible. Peace is possible. Feeling like yourself again is possible.
Our therapists are here to help you understand your anxiety, regulate your nervous system, and build the confidence to face whatever comes your way. You’ve already taken the first step by being here. Let’s take the next one together.
Start your journey to calm and clarity today.
Available in-person in Northfield and Chicago, or virtually throughout Illinois