In-person
4108 Park Road, Suite 410, Charlotte, NC 28209
Telehealth
Available to clients throughout North Carolina
Insurance
Aetna, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Magellan, Medicare, United Healthcare
Free consultation
Available by phone or secure video before your first appointment
You have tried the deep breaths. You have tried telling yourself it is fine. You have tried staying busy and waiting for it to pass, and it keeps coming back. The tightness before a meeting. The 2 a.m. thoughts that will not quiet down. The way an ordinary day can tip into too much without a clear reason.
Anxiety is among the concerns we work with most often. About a third of U.S. adolescents and adults experience anxiety at some point in their lives, and research supports therapy as an effective path for working with it.
Montgomery Counseling Group offers anxiety therapy in Charlotte, NC for adults, teens, and children. We work with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, PTSD, and phobias, matching the approach to what you are dealing with rather than running everyone through the same program.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Generalized Anxiety Disorder involves persistent, hard-to-control worry that touches many areas of life at once. If you are living with GAD, you may find yourself preoccupied with money, health, family, or work in ways that are difficult to set aside.
What people often notice:
- Restlessness, or a feeling of always being on edge
- Becoming fatigued more quickly than usual
- Difficulty concentrating
- Irritability in situations that would not normally feel like too much
- Physical experiences with no clear explanation, such as muscle tension, headaches, or stomach upset
Some physical health issues produce experiences that resemble anxiety. Your primary care physician may want to run a thorough evaluation to rule out physical contributors, before or alongside therapy, and may also refer you to a mental health professional.
Approaches that research supports for GAD include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), other forms of talk therapy, medication, or a combination of these. The right path is different for everyone, and your therapist will work with you to find what fits.
Panic Disorder
A panic attack is a sudden episode of intense fear that sets off strong physical reactions when there is no danger present. Not everyone who has a panic attack goes on to experience Panic Disorder. Panic attacks can come as often as several times a day, or as seldom as a couple of times a year.
During a panic attack, a person may experience:
- An inability to catch their breath
- Chest pain
- Heart palpitations, a pounding or racing heart
- Heavy sweating
- Tingling in the skin
- Trembling they cannot control
- A sense of being out of control
- A strong sense that something bad is about to happen
After a panic attack, many people begin avoiding the activities, places, or situations they associate with it. Ongoing worry about when the next one might arrive is common as well.
Social Anxiety Disorder
Social Anxiety Disorder, sometimes called social phobia, involves intense fear that arises in social settings. If this is your experience, talking with others, meeting new people, or attending gatherings can feel out of reach. There may be persistent fear of being judged, scrutinized, or watched, and it can reach into work, school, and ordinary errands like grocery shopping.
What people often notice:
- Sweating more than usual
- Flushing of the face or neck
- Heart palpitations and trembling
- A fear that others are judging them harshly
- Feeling intensely self-conscious
- Stiffness in movement, or noticeably closed-off body language
- Speaking in an unusually soft or quiet tone
- Difficulty making eye contact
- Stomach pain and cramping
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can develop after an event, or a series of events, that was dangerous, frightening, or overwhelming. Trauma responses sit on a spectrum, and they show a nervous system doing what it was built to do: protect.
For some people, that protective response continues long after the experience has passed, and the nervous system stays on alert as though the threat is still present. You may feel stressed or frightened with no external threat in sight. PTSD can also follow events that happened to a family member or a close friend.
What people often notice:
- Re-experiencing the event through flashbacks, difficult dreams, or intrusive thoughts
- Avoiding people, places, and things connected to the experience
- Feeling constantly on edge, being easily startled, or having trouble falling or staying asleep
- Shifts in mood and memory, such as pulling back from activities once enjoyed, guilt or self-blame, or difficulty recalling parts of what happened
PTSD can emerge at any stage of life, and it does not require direct involvement in a single traumatic event.
Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) is associated with prolonged or repeated trauma, such as ongoing abuse, neglect, or other sustained adverse experiences. Trauma of any kind can reach into your sense of self, your relationships, and your capacity to work with difficult emotions. Whether what you are living with feels more like PTSD, C-PTSD, or somewhere in between, Montgomery Counseling Group offers informed, compassionate care.
Therapy can help you understand what sits underneath the fear, build tools for settling your nervous system, and move through your experiences with greater ease.
Specific Phobias
A phobia is a persistent, intense fear response to an object, person, animal, activity, or situation. The fear is felt fully, and the body responds to it, even when others do not perceive the same level of threat. People living with a phobia often go out of their way to avoid the trigger, or get through it with significant distress.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is well researched for phobias. Through gradual exposure and shifts in thinking patterns, CBT helps people build tolerance and move through the world with more confidence.
Clinical Hypnosis is another approach we offer. By guiding a person into a relaxed, focused state, clinical hypnosis opens room for new ways of responding to fear. It can be used on its own or alongside other approaches, and at Montgomery Counseling Group it is applied as part of a plan built around each person.
How We Approach Anxiety Therapy
Montgomery Counseling Group is a trauma-informed practice. Every clinician here works from that orientation, which for anxiety therapy means looking at what is happening in the nervous system underneath the worry, alongside the worry itself.
Sometimes anxiety is a present-day response to present-day pressure, and building tools for the here and now is the work. Other times the anxiety is louder than the current situation calls for, and something older is speaking through it. Both are common. Both are workable.
Your therapist will help you sort out which layer is doing the most work in your case, and match the approach to that.
Approaches Available at Montgomery Counseling Group
Our clinicians work with many approaches, and the list below is illustrative rather than complete. What fits depends on what your anxiety is doing and where it comes from.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) often fits present-day worry loops, anxious thought patterns, and phobias.
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) often fits anxiety tied to earlier experiences the nervous system has not fully processed. More on how EMDR can help with anxiety.
- Ericksonian Clinical Hypnosis often fits phobias, performance anxiety, and panic that arrives with a strong bodily component. More on hypnotherapy for anxiety and stress
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) often fits anxiety that arrives with strong emotional swings, or difficulty settling once activated.
- Group therapy often fits social anxiety, and the sense of being the only one going through this.
CBT has decades of research behind it for anxiety, and it is often where anxiety therapy starts. It is one of several paths our clinicians work with. When anxiety today is echoing something older, EMDR can reach a different layer. Your therapist will talk this through with you at the first session, and again as the picture gets clearer.
Who You Will See at Montgomery Counseling Group
John Burns, MSW, LCSW, EMDRIA Approved Consultant
John Burns specializes in complex and developmental trauma, which often underlies depression. He works with EMDR, Internal Family Systems, and Ericksonian clinical hypnosis. The EMDRIA Approved Consultant designation is an advanced EMDRIA credential that qualifies clinicians to provide formal consultation to other EMDR therapists.
Naila McConnell, LCMHCA
Naila McConnell, LCMHCA, Certified Dialectical Behavior Therapist, works with depression across the lifespan, with adults, children, adolescents, couples, and families. Her certified DBT training brings structure and practical skills alongside relational work.
Javontae Bradley, LCMHCA
Javontae Bradley, a mental health counselor works with men’s issues and trauma-informed care, with a culturally responsive approach that honors your specific context.
Taylor Banner, LCSWA
Taylor Banner, a couple therapist at MCG, works with families and couples where depression is affecting relationships, drawing on Emotionally Focused Family Therapy and Structural Family Therapy.
LCMHC with Michelle Daley, LCMHC, Senior Clinician
Michelle Daley, is a play therapist and EMDR Trained Clinician who works with children, adolescents, and families, creating space for young people to express what they are carrying and build emotional skills over time
Meredith Turner-Toth, LCSW, Senior Clinician
Clinical focus: Adolescents and adults, offering individual and group therapy. Meredith works with depression, OCD, life transitions, trauma, and difficult family dynamics, and is trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).
What to Expect When You Start Anxiety Therapy
Your first conversation with us is a free 20-minute consultation. It is a chance to say what has been going on, ask questions, and get a feel for whether we are a good fit before you book a session.
The first full session runs 60 minutes. Your therapist will ask what brought you in, what has and has not helped before, and what you want to be different. You will leave session one with a shared sense of what the work looks like from here, and a first step.
The pace is different for different people. Some notice small shifts early, in how they sleep or in what they can do without spiraling. Others feel the movement later, when something they used to avoid stops feeling so heavy. Your therapist will give you a realistic sense of timeline after the first session. Our aim is to work effectively and then step back, available in the future as needed. We do not default to keeping people in therapy longer than the work calls for.
Fees, Insurance, and Getting Started
Our rate is $150 per 60-minute session, with a sliding scale available based on income. We are in-network with Aetna, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Magellan, Medicare, and United Healthcare, and we work with out-of-network clients as well. Full details are on our rates and insurance page
In-Person in Charlotte and Telehealth Across North Carolina
Our office is at 4108 Park Road, Suite 410, in South Charlotte, a manageable trip for clients coming from SouthPark, Dilworth, and Myers Park. When in-person is not the fit, we offer telehealth services to clients throughout North Carolina, where 97 of 100 counties are designated Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas
Frequently Asked Questions About Anxiety Therapy in Charlotte
How do I know if my anxiety calls for therapy?
When anxiety is affecting sleep, work, relationships, or the ability to enjoy what you used to enjoy, that is a reasonable threshold for reaching out. You do not need a formal answer about what is going on before you call. Montgomery Counseling Group offers a free 20-minute consultation to help you sort out whether therapy makes sense for you right now.
How long does anxiety therapy take before I feel better?
Length varies with what sits underneath the anxiety and how long it has been in place. At Montgomery Counseling Group, your Charlotte therapist will share a realistic sense of timeline after the first session, once there is enough to work with. The aim is to work effectively and then step back, available in the future as needed.
Can therapy help with panic attacks?
Panic attacks respond well to structured therapy, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is the approach used most often for them at Montgomery Counseling Group. The work looks at what sets the attacks in motion, reduces avoidance, and builds your confidence that you can get through one without the spiral taking over.
Can EMDR help with anxiety, or is it only for PTSD?
EMDR was developed for trauma, and it is also used for anxiety, panic, and phobias. At Montgomery Counseling Group, EMDR is often the fit when anxiety today is tied to something the nervous system has not yet fully processed from before.
Do I need medication for anxiety, or can therapy work on its own?
Therapy on its own is well supported by research for many people, and many clients at Montgomery Counseling Group do this work without medication. If your prescriber thinks medication would help alongside therapy, we coordinate care around that rather than take a position for or against it.
Do you offer anxiety therapy for children and teenagers?
Anxiety in young people can look different than it does in adults. A child might seem irritable, clingy, or avoidant rather than anxious in the way adults describe it. Montgomery Counseling Group works with children and adolescents using age-appropriate approaches, and involves caregivers where that helps
Do you take insurance for anxiety therapy?
Montgomery Counseling Group is in-network with Aetna, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Magellan, Medicare, and United Healthcare, and works with out-of-network clients as well. The self-pay rate is $150 for a 60-minute session, and a sliding scale is available based on income.
Can I do anxiety therapy online?
Montgomery Counseling Group offers secure telehealth sessions anywhere in North Carolina. Many clients find telehealth works well for anxiety therapy, particularly when getting to an appointment feels like one more thing to manage.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
If anxiety has been running in the background of everything lately, it does not have to stay this loud. Call (980) 949-8990 for a free consultation, or book online whenever you are ready. Montgomery Counseling Group offers anxiety therapy in person at our Park Road office in Charlotte, NC and by telehealth throughout North Carolina.