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HOMETEENSPARENTSANXIETY / TRAUMALife TransitionsWHAT TO EXPECTMEET TRACYCONTACT
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Testimonials

"I first started seeing Tracy over two and a half years ago when I was really at the end of my tether. Nothing in my life was working out, and in all honestly, I was feeling quite desperate.  I had seen many therapists in the past, with differing levels of success, but had never gelled with anyone and found myself in a dark place that I couldn't find a way out of.  Going into meet Tracy for the first time I was cynical at best - I felt like I had tried everything and nobody would ever be able to help me.  But half way through our first session this seemingly mild mannered woman made an observation that was so truthful and insightful about my own psyche - that it quite literally took my breath away. Consequently - with that respect well and truly earnt - I have gone on to see my life completely transform from what it was to what it is now.  And that is completely down to the education Tracy has given me in myself.  She is far and away the best therapist I have seen and I could not recommend her more highly."
- AM, Client

Crisis Intervention

National Suicide Prevention Hotline
24 Hours a Day, 7 Days a Week
800-273-8255
www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org

Didi Hirsch Suicide Prevention Center CRISIS LINE
24 Hours a Day, 7 Days a Week
877-727-4747
www.didihirsch.org

Websites

National Institute of Mental Health
A part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services providing information on several topics in mental health
www.nimh.nih.gov

Stress, Anxiety, and Depression Resource Center
Non-profit organization providing information on Stress, Anxiety, and Depression
www.stress-anxiety-depression.org

HelpGuide.org
Non-profit organization providing information on many different psychological disorders for adults, children and families
www.helpguide.org

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Westside Los Angeles
Classes and workshops for people with a mental illness and their families and friends
310-889-7200
www.namila.org

Guided Mindfulness Mediation with Jon Kabat-Zin
Mindfulness Meditation resources with Jon Kabat-Zin
www.mindfulnesscds.com

AA- Alcoholics Anonymous
Support group for people struggling with alcohol addiction
12-Step meetings
www.aa.org

CODA- Co-Dependents Anonymous
Support group for people struggling with co-dependency
12-Step Meetings
www.coda.org

Al-Anon
Support Groups for family and friends of alcoholics
12-Step Meetings
www.al-anon.alateen.org

Books

Full Catastrophe Living
By, Jon Kabat-Zin
www.mindfulnesscds.com

Low and No Cost Referrals

LA 211
Operators available to provide referrals based on your need
24 Hours a Day, 7 Days a Week
211 from your phone or 800-339-6993

Insurance Services

TWP Insurance
Health Insurance Brokers
323-848-7795
www.twpinsurance.com

                      
                       
                                                         ANXIETY

I help people find balance between their body and their mind to quiet down the noise of anxiety.  Common symptoms of anxiety are; sweaty palms, a racing heart, butterflies in your stomach, dizziness, worrying about pleasing people, avoiding social events, never taking reasonable risks, and procrastinating so much that you fall way behind.  We have all experienced anxiety at one time or another.  Anxiety can take on different forms from person to person.  In my work with anxiety, I’ve found that it is easiest to explain it as a physical reaction to stress that was biologically created to help us in dangerous or difficult situations.  How does anxiety go from being helpful to destructive?  It becomes problematic when it becomes excessive and uncontrollable, affecting daily living.  When we see every situation as potentially dangerous and have the bodily reaction to match, anxiety is no longer helpful.  Anxiety is often referred to as stress.  Stress is often related to worry about past and future mistakes.  The words you use to think about yourself and the world can contribute to your anxiety. When you take some time to examine your anxious thoughts, you may find that your anxiety decreases.  One of the most difficult things about living with anxiety is that you can feel it strongly in your body; spinning thoughts, frozen, heart beating fast, feeling overwhelmed, but on the outside you look like things are great for you.  When you find that you’re avoiding important life events or opportunities as a result of your anxiety, it’s time to take action.  Let’s work together to take small steps to change your behavior, so you can overcome anxiety-inducing situations.

                                              TRAUMA

Hospital Emergency Rooms is the first thought for a lot of people when they hear the word Trauma.   Trauma can be a lot more subtle than that and can have a negative impact on your day to day life.  I have experience working with trauma.  There is big trauma and small trauma.  Trauma is not limited to severe physical or emotional damage, such as physical or sexual abuse, maltreatment as a child, or PTSD.  Sometimes trauma is an experience you had that impacted how you were going to live the rest of your life; the sudden loss of a special friend or family member, anger, bullying, loneliness, isolation, unfairness, or discrimination.  It’s the small, lingering aspects of trauma that are hard to detect and often go unnoticed.  It often shows up after a trigger and shows up as anxiety or stress.  When you find that you are unwilling to do some thing or go somewhere for no good reason, it may be due to remnants of trauma.  Trauma rings through your whole body.  The entire body feels the anxiety when triggered.  For some it is paralyzing, for others it’s a hesitation.  Getting the body and mind to work together is the key to working through trauma.  Recognizing what your body is doing when triggered and then relating emotion to the feelings.  The use of meditation and guided imagery can be helpful.  Our work together is to let your body know that you are okay and convince it of it.  Working together, we can identify triggers, recognize the effect in your body, and come up with a plan to let your body know it’s okay, so you can live a more authentic life.

                 THE 5-STEP ULTIMATE RELAXATION TECHNIQUE

http://willmeekphd.com/item/how-to-relax

So when you are feeling activated, stop what you are doing, and follow these 5-steps:

1. Orienting
The first step is intentionally orienting yourself to your surroundings. This means visually and mentally recognizing where you are right now and what is around you. If I did this right now, I'd look around the room and recognize that I am in my office, at 4:05 p.m., with the sun shining.  This step may seem silly or obvious, but when we are anxious, tense, or angry, we are almost never paying attention to our immediate surroundings. Instead, we are usually consumed with our thoughts or feelings related to things that are not present where we are. Orienting allows us to start relaxing by recognizing our immediate surroundings, which are hopefully calm, stable, and safe. 

2. Grounding
The second step helps shift your attention to how you are connected to your environment.  Since relaxation is a physiological process, it is important to direct your attention to your senses. So for this step, intentionally notice ways you are connected to your surroundings. For me right now, that would mean I intentionally notice my feet on the floor, my back against the chair, and how my sweater feels on my arms. 

3. Slowing
This third step will now bring your attention to what is happening inside you, particularly your breathing and heart rate. Although there are a lot of ways we can learn to change the way our body responds in any given moment, the easiest is to control our breathing. There are dozens of breathing techniques, but the one I have found to be the easiest to use is called "4-7-8 Breathing". It works like this:
Sit comfortably in a chair with your feet on the floor, and close your eyes. Once you are settled and notice your breathing, inhale through your nose for a count of 4, hold it for a count of 7, exhale through your mouth for a count of 8, and repeat. While doing this, you should really start to notice some changes in how you are feeling, most obviously a slowing heart rate. That is your parasympathetic nervous system going into action. 

4. Coaching
Once you have the breathing pace down, keep doing it while you move to this step. The key here is giving yourself positive, reassuring, and calm messages, rather than continuing with the tense, anxious, and angry thoughts. When I do this, I think things like "I can get through this. It will be OK. I can handle whatever happens. I am going to calmly do my best." Everyone will have a different way of doing this, and some people like to imagine this in the voice of someone they care about, or with the image of that person telling them those things. Keep doing this along with the breathing until you feel sufficiently ready to reconnect with what you were doing.

5. Emerging
The key in this final step is calmly reentering the world. Rather than just stopping this process and jumping back in, focus on going back to what you need to do with the same peace you might have when you wake up from a nice sleep; just gently getting back into the flow of your day. This should keep your mind and body both staying in a more relaxed and positive state.