Anxiety Therapy in Wilmington, NC
Allora Rise Counseling and Therapy treats anxiety disorders, panic, social anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), perfectionism, and high-functioning anxiety in Wilmington, North Carolina, and by telehealth throughout the state. Every therapist in the practice treats anxiety, and several have built their work around a specific form of it.
or book a free fifteen-minute consultation first
WRITTEN WITH
Shaina Frank, MA, LCMHC / Abby Alldread, LCMHC, LCAS / Madilyn “Maddy” Dombrowski, MSW, LCSW-A / Delaney Dow, LCMHC-A / Anna Salino-Hugg, LCSW / Alexandra “Lexie” Mueller, MA, LCMHC-A /
Rachael Hodge, LPA, LCAS / Margaret Kotz, LCMHC-A
What anxiety actually looks like
It is being on edge and mentally and physically drained at the same time. Replaying a conversation for the fourth time. Worrying you have disappointed someone with no evidence that you have. Trouble sleeping, and no rest from the sleep you do get. Muscle tension that does not release. A body you cannot get comfortable in.
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It is also the behavior around it, which is often what people notice first: overthinking, avoiding, procrastinating, people-pleasing, seeking reassurance, edginess with a partner, indecision, and the particular paralysis of having analyzed something so thoroughly you can no longer act on it.
Our therapists hear the same phrases week after week. I cannot turn my brain off. I am exhausted all the time. I am stressed for no reason.
Anxiety makes life smaller. We may avoid things that make us uncomfortable, or may not go after things that we really want in life because of it. We may have sleep interruptions, physical symptoms like chest tightness, sweating in anxiety provoking situations, even muscle tension. Worry can feel out of control. Sometimes we may do things to try to lessen anxiety that only make it worse in the long run.
RACHAEL HODGE, LPA, LCAS
What you have probably already tried
Almost everyone arrives having attempted to handle it alone first, usually for years. The most common attempts our therapists hear about are pushing through, telling yourself to stop worrying, staying extremely busy, avoiding the situation, seeking reassurance, planning life so tightly that nothing can surprise you, self-help books, podcasts, and thinking positive thoughts. Some people have been managing with alcohol.
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These all work briefly, which is exactly why they persist. They stop working because they address the discomfort rather than what is generating it, and because avoidance teaches the nervous system that the feared thing really was dangerous. The relief gets shorter each time and the world gets a little narrower.
The first few weeks, and what changes
Anxiety therapy here starts with relief you can feel rather than insight that takes months to arrive, so the first few weeks are practical.
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That usually starts with understanding what is actually happening in your body, because anxiety is far less frightening once it is explained. From there our therapists teach practical regulation: grounding, paced breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, mindfulness, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) distress tolerance skills for the moments that spike, such as cold water on the face or a short burst of hard exercise to reset the body quickly. Several use a locus of control exercise early on, separating what you can change and what you cannot.
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The other half is pattern recognition. Naming the specific mechanism keeping your anxiety running, whether that is avoidance, rumination, or perfectionism, tends to make things feel dramatically less overwhelming, because they finally make sense.
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Some therapists move to behavioral experiments quickly: small, deliberate tests of what you assume will happen, so you can attend to what actually occurs rather than what you fear might.
Progress, honestly
Our therapists were asked what three months and six months genuinely look like.
AT THREE MONTHS
You understand your anxiety instead of feeling controlled by it. You catch it earlier. You can tell when a fearful thought is the anxiety talking rather than a fact. You have a set of skills you actually reach for, and you are starting to trust yourself instead of believing every anxious thought.
AT SIX MONTHS
The change feels less like effort. Less time lost to overthinking, fewer situations avoided, decisions made with more confidence. Several therapists described the goal not as the anxiety disappearing but as your relationship to it changing, and clients separating their identity from it.
Which approach, and why
Nobody here applies one method to everyone. The approach follows what is driving the anxiety.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the most used, for clients caught in a loop of thought and behavior who need practical tools and want to test unhelpful thinking directly. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is for anxiety that has become a fight with your own mind, building a different relationship to difficult thoughts instead of trying to win against them. DBT skills are for intense emotion that needs something concrete in the moment.
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Exposure and response prevention is the evidence-based treatment for OCD, offered here by Margaret Kotz and Mackenzie Pereira. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) comes in when the anxiety is rooted in unresolved trauma rather than present circumstance, and only once someone is grounded and ready. Shaina Frank, Jax Sullivan, and Yolandi Rause are EMDR trained. Somatic and nervous system work, including Brainspotting with Abby Alldread, is for anxiety that lives primarily in the body.
Forms of anxiety we have particular depth in
HIGH-FUNCTIONING ANXIETY
Outwardly capable, privately exhausted, and the most widely covered form here.
Treated by Shaina Frank, Rachael Hodge, Anna Salino-Hugg, Maddy Dombrowski, Delaney Dow, Margaret Kotz, Alexandra Mueller, and Abby Alldread.
PANIC AND HEALTH ANXIETY
Panic attacks, and anxiety centered on your physical health.
Treated by Anna Salino-Hugg, Shaina Frank, Alexandra Mueller, Margaret Kotz, and Mackenzie Pereira.
OCD
Intrusive thoughts, and the rituals that follow them.
Treated with exposure and response prevention by Margaret Kotz and Mackenzie Pereira.
SOCIAL ANXIETY
Anxiety about being watched, judged, or evaluated.
Treated by Maddy Dombrowski, Alexandra Mueller, Abby Alldread, and Delaney Dow.
FAITH-RELATED ANXIETY
Anxiety tangled up with belief, guilt, or a faith community, including religious and spiritual trauma.
Treated by Yolandi Rause, Stefanie Roback, and Jax Sullivan.
TEEN AND STUDENT ANXIETY
Performance pressure, school stress, and perfectionism.
Treated by Delaney Dow, Mackenzie Pereira, and Alexandra Mueller.
Who to see
Every therapist here treats anxiety. Many have built their work around a specific form of it.
Shaina Frank
MA, LCMHC
High-functioning anxiety, health anxiety, and panic. Adults 18 and up. Cargo District and telehealth.
Anna Salino-Hugg
LCSW
Health anxiety, panic, and anxiety tied to work role transitions. Adults 18 and up. Wrightsville Beach and telehealth.
Rachael Hodge
LPA, LCAS
High-functioning anxiety and depression. Adults 18 and up. Wrightsville Beach and telehealth.
Margaret Kotz
LCMHC-A
OCD, perfectionism, and health anxiety. Adults 18 and older. Cargo District and telehealth.
Alexandra "Lexie" Mueller
MA, LCMHC-A
High-functioning anxiety, social anxiety, and panic. Adults 18 and up. Cargo District and telehealth.
Maddy Dombrowski
MSW, LCSW-A
Social and high-functioning anxiety. Women 18 and older. Wrightsville Beach and telehealth.
Delaney Dow
LCMHC-A
High-functioning anxiety and teen anxiety. Children 10 and up, teens, and adults. Wrightsville Beach and telehealth.
Mackenzie Pereira
LCMHC-A
Anxiety, panic, and OCD. Teens 16 and up, and adults. Cargo District and telehealth.
Abby Alldread
LCMHC, LCAS
Anxiety following trauma, and relational and social anxiety. Adults 18 and up. Cargo District and telehealth.
Jax Sullivan
LCMHC-A
Anxiety rooted in trauma, treated with EMDR once you are grounded and ready. Adults 18 and up. Cargo District and telehealth.
Yolandi Rause
LCMHC-S
Anxiety rooted in trauma, including religious and spiritual trauma, and anxiety alongside chronic illness. Women 18 and up. Wrightsville Beach and telehealth.
Stefanie Roback
LCSW, LCAS
Anxiety, and the perfectionism and self-criticism that come with it. Adults 18 and up. Telehealth throughout North Carolina.
Common questions
How do I know if I have anxiety or just stress?
Stress usually has a clear cause and eases once that thing resolves. Anxiety tends to stick around after the cause is gone, or shows up with no clear cause at all. It also comes with a physical signature: muscle tension that will not release, sleep that does not restore you, and a mind that will not turn off even when there is nothing left to solve. If it is shaping your decisions or your relationships, it is worth talking to someone regardless of what you call it.
How long does therapy take for anxiety?
There is no fixed course, and it depends on what you are carrying and how long you have carried it. Focused anxiety work often shows real change by three months, and by six months that change tends to feel less like effort. Rachael Hodge has had clients finish anxiety work inside three to six months. Others stay longer, and some come back later for a particular stretch. You and your therapist review where you are as you go rather than committing to a number at the start.
Do I need a diagnosis before I book?
No. Most people arrive able to describe how they feel and unable to name it, and that is a perfectly good starting point.
How do I know which therapist to see?
Call or text 910-408-2302 and tell us briefly what is going on. We ask about insurance first, since that matters, then about what you are dealing with and what you want in a therapist, including whether you want humor, homework, directness, or a gentler pace. Based on your feedback, we can make a therapist recommendation .
Can I meet someone before committing?
Yes. Every therapist offers a free fifteen-minute phone consultation, and you can book one online with a specific person.
Does anxiety treatment work over telehealth?
Yes, and most of our therapists offer it throughout North Carolina. The skills-based work in particular translates without difficulty.
The approaches on this page, defined
Definitions of the methods named above.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Works on the link between what you think, what you do, and how you feel. You learn to test anxious predictions against what actually happens, and to change the daily habits that keep the worry running.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Treats thoughts as events you can notice rather than instructions you have to follow. The work is on willingness and values, so you can move toward what matters while discomfort is present.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills
A skills curriculum drawn from dialectical behavior therapy, covering distress tolerance, emotion regulation, mindfulness, and interpersonal effectiveness.
Exposure and response prevention (ERP)
A structured protocol in which you approach a trigger in planned steps while deliberately not performing the ritual that usually follows. The compulsion loses its hold because it stops being reinforced.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
A structured trauma therapy. Guided eye movements or other bilateral stimulation help the brain work through an experience it never finished processing.
Somatic and nervous system work
Starts with the body rather than the thought, which helps when anxiety shows up physically and talking about it hasn’t helped. Brainspotting is one form of it.
The way you feel today does not have to be your normal.
Book a session online, or a free fifteen-minute consultation first with the therapist of your choice. You can also email info@allorarise.com or call or text 910-408-2302.