Live Life Now! Counseling and Coaching Tonya Jordan, LPC (She/ Her)

Anxiety stems from a thought process centered around overthinking about the worst possible outcome. In this way, anxiety is a symptom of deeper problem. It shows up as overthinking, headaches, pounding heart, stomach issues, nervousness, and a general sense of doom. I work with clients to understand the core underlying thoughts that are creating the anxiety, and then I offer coping strategies to shift the thinking patterns.

Depression shows up as low mood, sadness, low motivation, appetite changes, and a cluster of other symptoms. If you are exhibiting these symptoms for 2 or more weeks, you may have depression and it is important to treat it. Left untreated, depression does not go away, it simply lingers or gets worse. I provide treatment strategies to alleviate these symptoms.

Self esteem is the way a person feels about him or herself. Those with healthy self esteem believe they can win in life, and believe that they have what it takes to overcome challenges. Those with damaged self esteem question if they are worthy or if they have what it takes. In therapy, I help clients with damaged self esteem understand what healthy self esteem looks like and figure out why it is damaged in the first place. From there, we create coping strategies to promote healthy self esteem.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a great modality for treating anxiety and depression. It explores how thoughts and self talk affect emotions and behavior. It is great for shifting the way a person thinks and integrating more positive thinking for emotional regulation. It is great for long term management of mood.

Person-Centered (Rogerian) therapy is about creating a safe, non-judgemental space for talking and exploring. It fosters the idea that the client is not "wrong" but instead invites, with questioning from the therapist, to explore what is right for them in their life, and asserts the idea that the client will come to a conclusion with a listening and supportive ear. It is great for healing wounds from trauma, boosting self esteem/ self love, relationship and career issues, and processing grief.

Coaching is used to foster forward movement and accountability. It is for those who need support on the path to change. It is a directive approach and enforces change. Coaching can be used in conjunction with therapy but is not a substitute for those who will benefit from healing trauma, anxiety, depression, self esteem, with therapy. It can be integrated during the course of therapy to help with consistency OR it can be used on it's own if one is seeking accountability toward a particular goal.

Anxiety feels like overthinking and excessive worry. Physical symptoms include nervousness, heart palpitations, sweating, stomach issues, and headaches, just to mention a few. Anxiety is rooted in the thoughts. If untreated, anxiety can be debilitating and interrupt relationships, work, family, and overall peace and wellbeing. Anxiety does not go away by itself so it is important to treat it with coping strategies that deal with thinking patterns.

Depression is a cluster of symptoms that include low (sad) mood, lack of motivation, appetite changes, low energy, and lessened interest in activities. Depression can stem from emotional wounds as the result of unhealed trauma, seasonal changes (cold, darkness in winter), or other chemical changes in the body. Everyone is susceptible to depression and it does not go away totally if left untreated.

Self esteem is about how you view yourself. If you view yourself in a positive light and feel you have what it takes to overcome life challenges, that is called high self esteem. If you don't have a positive assessment of yourself, or feel like you can't overcome life challenges, that is called low self esteem. Another term that is used interchangeably is self image. Low self esteem chips away at life quality and takes a toll on emotional health.