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Inner Child Work UK
Internal Family Systems Therapy UK
Therapy for Anxiety Newcastle Upon tyne, uk
Anxiety can leave you feeling tense, restless, and caught in a cycle of constant worrying. If you’re seeking therapy for anxiety in Newcastle Upon Tyne or online, you may be unsure how to manage racing thoughts, physical tension, or overwhelming fear and are looking for support that helps you feel calmer, safer, and more in control.
At Inner Child Work Newcastle Upon Tyne, we look beyond symptoms and explore the deeper emotional experiences and protective parts that may be driving anxiety. Using Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy for anxiety and inner child work, we support you in understanding these patterns, calming the nervous system, and developing a safer and more compassionate relationship with yourself.
Our approach to therapy for anxiety
Anxiety can develop for many different reasons. Sometimes it is linked to past trauma or overwhelming experiences, sometimes to long-standing patterns such as people-pleasing, perfectionism, or overthinking, and sometimes to chronic stress that has kept the nervous system in a heightened state for years. Understanding the roots of anxiety often takes patience, care, and a compassionate therapeutic approach.
In my work, I use body-focused approaches, such as Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, to gently explore the emotional experiences and protective patterns that may be underlying your anxiety. Rather than only focusing on symptoms, we work to understand the parts of you that feel worried, hyper-vigilant, tense, or fearful and the role these parts are trying to play in keeping you safe from harm or emotional pain.
Alongside this, I place strong importance on helping you understand how anxiety affects the nervous system and body. Therapy may include psychoeducation, grounding and regulation skills, somatic exercises, and exploring supportive lifestyle changes that help calm your nervous system and improve overall well-being.
Therapy is always tailored to your individual needs and moves at a pace that feels safe and manageable. My aim is to provide a supportive, non-judgemental space where you can begin to understand your anxious patterns, work with protective parts, release stored tension, and build lasting calm, emotional regulation, and self-trust.
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is a natural emotional and physical response designed to keep you safe. It is your nervous system’s way of preparing you to respond to stress, uncertainty, or potential danger. In small amounts, anxiety can be helpful, helping you stay alert, focused, and prepared for challenges.
However, anxiety can become overwhelming when it is persistent, intense, or triggered by situations that are not actually dangerous. When this happens, anxiety can begin to affect your mood, relationships, confidence, and day-to-day functioning.
Anxiety often shows up as racing thoughts, constant worry, difficulty relaxing, or feeling on edge. It can also present physically through symptoms such as muscle tension, sleep difficulties, digestive issues, panic sensations, or feeling emotionally overwhelmed.
At Inner Child Work Newcastle Upon Tyne, anxiety is understood not simply as something that is “wrong,” but often as a protective response shaped by past experiences. Through trauma-informed IFS therapy for anxiety, we gently explore the emotional and nervous system patterns that may be contributing to anxiety, helping you feel safer, calmer, and more emotionally balanced.
What is Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)?
Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a term commonly used to describe persistent and excessive worry that feels difficult to control. People experiencing GAD often find their mind constantly anticipating problems or imagining worst-case scenarios, even when there is no immediate threat present.
This type of anxiety can affect many areas of life, including work, relationships, health, and everyday responsibilities. It often involves ongoing mental and physical tension, making it difficult to relax or switch off from worry.
People experiencing symptoms linked to GAD may notice:
- Constant or uncontrollable worry
- Overthinking or difficulty quietening the mind
- Feeling restless or on edge
- Muscle tension or physical discomfort
- Sleep difficulties
- Fatigue or difficulty concentrating
At Inner Child Work Newcastle Upon Tyne, anxiety is understood as a protective response rather than something that is “wrong” with you. From an Internal Family Systems (IFS) perspective, chronic worry and hypervigilance can develop when parts of you are trying to anticipate danger or prevent emotional pain based on past experiences.
Through trauma-informed IFS therapy for anxiety, we gently explore these protective patterns, helping your nervous system feel safer and reducing the intensity of anxiety over time.
Emotional Symptoms of Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) can have a significant impact on how you experience and manage your emotions. Many people living with GAD describe feeling constantly overwhelmed by worry, fear, or a sense that something bad might happen, even when there is no clear or immediate threat.
Common emotional symptoms of GAD can include:
- Persistent or excessive worry that feels difficult to control
- Feeling constantly on edge or unable to relax
- A sense of dread or anticipating worst-case scenarios
- Irritability or feeling emotionally overwhelmed
- Difficulty tolerating uncertainty or feeling a strong need for reassurance
- Feeling emotionally exhausted from constant worry or overthinking
- Low self-confidence or doubting your decisions
- Feeling easily overwhelmed by everyday responsibilities or relationships
From a trauma-informed and Internal Family Systems (IFS) perspective, these emotional experiences are often linked to protective parts of you that are trying to anticipate danger, prevent mistakes, or avoid emotional pain. While these patterns may have developed to keep you safe at some point in your life, they can become exhausting and overwhelming when they remain highly active in adulthood.
Through IFS therapy for anxiety at Inner Child Work Newcastle Upon Tyne, we gently explore these protective emotional patterns, helping you understand their role and supporting your nervous system to feel calmer and more balanced.
emotional & physical signs
Physiological Symptoms of Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) does not just affect your thoughts and emotions, it can also have a strong impact on the body. When anxiety is present for long periods, the nervous system can remain in a heightened state of alert, which can lead to a range of physical or physiological symptoms.
Common physiological symptoms of GAD can include:
- Muscle tension, tight shoulders, jaw clenching, or body aches
- Restlessness or feeling unable to sit still
- Fatigue or feeling physically drained
- Difficulty sleeping, trouble falling asleep, or restless sleep
- Increased heart rate or heart palpitations
- Shortness of breath or feeling unable to take a full breath
- Digestive difficulties such as nausea, stomach discomfort, or IBS-type symptoms
- Headaches or migraines
- Feeling shaky, dizzy, or lightheaded
- Sweating or feeling flushed
- Feeling disconnected from your body or from your surroundings
These physical symptoms can occur because anxiety activates the body’s threat response system. When the nervous system believes there may be danger, it prepares the body to protect itself, even if there is no immediate threat present.
From an Internal Family Systems (IFS) and trauma-informed perspective, these physiological symptoms are often connected to protective parts of the nervous system that are trying to keep you safe. Through therapy for anxiety at Inner Child Work Newcastle Upon Tyne, we gently support the body and nervous system to release tension, process stored emotional experiences, and move towards a calmer and more regulated state.
What Causes Anxiety?
depression is deeply unique and personal
Anxiety is rarely caused by just one thing. For many people, anxiety develops through a combination of life experiences, environmental factors, personality traits, and nervous system responses. Understanding what contributes to anxiety can help make sense of why it feels so intense or difficult to control.
Some common factors that can contribute to anxiety include:
Past experiences and trauma
Experiences that felt overwhelming, frightening, or emotionally unsafe can shape how the nervous system responds to stress later in life. This can include childhood experiences, relational trauma, or periods where emotional support or safety was limited.
Long-term stress or pressure
Ongoing stress related to work, relationships, finances, or life transitions can keep the nervous system in a prolonged state of alert, making it harder for the body and mind to fully relax.
Personality and emotional sensitivity
Some people are naturally more emotionally attuned or sensitive to their environment. Highly sensitive or empathic individuals may be more affected by stress, conflict, or emotional intensity, which can increase vulnerability to anxiety.
Relationship patterns
Experiences such as people-pleasing, difficulty setting boundaries, or feeling responsible for others’ emotions can create internal pressure and increase anxiety over time.
Biological and nervous system factors
Some people may have a nervous system that is more reactive to stress or uncertainty. Anxiety can develop when the body learns to stay alert to prevent potential harm, even when the original threat is no longer present.
At Inner Child Work Newcastle Upon Tyne, anxiety is understood as a protective response rather than a personal failing. From an Internal Family Systems (IFS) perspective, anxiety can develop when parts of you are trying to anticipate danger, prevent mistakes, or avoid emotional pain based on past experiences.
Through trauma-informed IFS therapy, we gently explore these patterns, helping you understand the role anxiety plays and supporting your nervous system to feel safer, calmer, and more balanced.
The Internal “Parts” That Can Contribute to Anxiety
From an Internal Family Systems (IFS) perspective, anxiety is often connected to different “parts” of your inner world that are trying to protect you. These parts develop over time, often in response to past experiences where you needed to stay alert, avoid conflict, or protect yourself from emotional pain.
Although these parts are trying to help, they can sometimes become overactive, leading to chronic worry, overthinking, or feeling constantly on edge.
Some common protective parts linked to anxiety can include:
The Worrier
This part may constantly scan for potential problems, imagine worst-case scenarios, or try to plan for every possible outcome. Its intention is often to prevent mistakes or protect you from being hurt, rejected, or caught off guard.
The Perfectionist
This part may push you to get things “right,” avoid failure, or stay highly organised and responsible. While it can help you achieve and stay motivated, it can also create pressure, fear of mistakes, ongoing stress and burnout.
The People-Pleaser
This part may prioritise others’ needs, avoid conflict, or take on emotional responsibility for relationships. It often develops to maintain connection and safety but can lead to burnout, resentment, or anxiety about disappointing others.
The Hyper-vigilant Protector
This part may keep you constantly alert to emotional or environmental danger. It can show up as feeling easily overwhelmed, struggling to relax, or expecting something bad to happen.
Younger or Vulnerable Parts
Beneath anxious protective parts, there are often younger parts that carry feelings such as fear, loneliness, rejection, or shame. Protective parts often work hard to prevent these more vulnerable feelings from being experienced again.
At Inner Child Work Newcastle Upon Tyne, IFS therapy for anxiety gently helps you build a safe and compassionate relationship with these parts. Rather than trying to remove or fight anxiety, we work to understand what these parts are trying to protect you from. Over time, this process can reduce internal conflict, calm the nervous system, and create a greater sense of emotional stability and self-trust.
Anxiety and the Nervous System
Anxiety is not just a mental or emotional experience, it’s deeply connected to the body and nervous system. This is well written about in The Body Keeps The Score. When we feel anxious, our nervous system activates a natural stress response, preparing the body to respond to perceived danger. This “fight, flight, or freeze” response can be helpful in short bursts, but when it stays active for prolonged periods, it can create chronic tension, hyper-vigilance, and exhaustion.
In people with a history of trauma, neglect, or overwhelming experiences, the nervous system can become sensitised, meaning it reacts strongly even to small stressors. Protective parts of the mind often respond to this by keeping you alert, overthinking, or worrying in an effort to prevent further harm. Over time, this can contribute to symptoms of anxiety, panic, and emotional dysregulation.
Common nervous system responses linked to anxiety include:
- Racing thoughts and constant worry
- Muscle tension, tightness, or restlessness
- Shallow or rapid breathing, heart palpitations
- Sleep difficulties or insomnia
- Feeling “on edge,” irritable, or easily startled
- Digestive disturbances, nausea, or tension headaches
- Fatigue or feeling emotionally drained
At Inner Child Work Newcastle Upon Tyne, IFS therapy for anxiety helps you understand how your nervous system interacts with your protective and vulnerable parts. By working gently with these parts, we can help regulate the nervous system, reduce reactivity, and support a sense of calm, safety, and emotional stability.
How to Support Yourself When Experiencing Anxiety
While professional therapy for anxiety is often the most effective way to work through anxiety, there are several strategies you can use to support your nervous system, calm protective parts, and reduce day-to-day anxiety symptoms.
1. Notice and Soften Your Parts
Anxiety often comes from protective parts that are trying to keep you safe. Gently noticing these parts, without judging yourself for feeling anxious, can help you start to build a compassionate relationship with them. Journaling, naming the parts, or simply acknowledging their presence can be a small but powerful first step.
2. Grounding and Body Awareness
Your nervous system often stores anxiety physically. Practicing grounding techniques, such as deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, gentle movement, or mindfulness exercises, can help you feel more connected to your body and regulate the stress response.
3. Small, Achievable Goals
Anxiety can make even simple tasks feel overwhelming. Break tasks into small steps and celebrate progress, no matter how minor. Each step helps your nervous system feel safe and capable.
4. Connect With Others
Isolation can amplify anxiety. Reach out to trusted friends, family, or support networks, even a short call or message can provide reassurance and reduce the sense of overwhelm.
5. Seek therapy for anxiety
While these strategies can help, working with a trained therapist can provide deeper and more lasting support. IFS therapy for anxiety helps you get to know the parts of you that are feeling anxious, understand what they are trying to protect you from, and create a sense of safety in your nervous system. Over time, this approach can reduce anxiety, improve emotional regulation, and help you feel more grounded and in control.
IFS therapy for anxiety helps you understand your anxiety, work with the parts trying to protect you, and build lasting emotional stability, all in a safe, compassionate way.
IFS Therapy for anxiety: the process
Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy for anxiety approaches anxiety in a gentle, step-by-step way that respects both your mind and body. The process is designed to help you feel safe, understood, and in control of your emotional experience.
Building Trust with a Therapist
The first step in IFS therapy for anxiety is creating a safe, supportive environment and building trust with your therapist. This foundation allows anxious and vulnerable parts to be approached without triggering further distress and helps you feel confident in exploring your inner world.
Getting to Know Protector Parts
Anxiety often comes from protective parts of you that are trying to keep you safe. In IFS therapy, we gently explore these parts, understand their role, and learn why they are overactive. By befriending and working with these parts, you can reduce constant worry and nervous system reactivity.
Healing and Releasing Exile Parts
Beneath protective parts are often younger or vulnerable “exile” parts carrying unresolved emotional pain, fear, or experiences of abandonment. Once safety and trust are established, therapy for anxiety helps these parts feel heard, validated, and gently processed, reducing the intensity of anxiety over time.
Integrating with New Energies
The final step involves integrating these parts in a way that allows them to work in harmony. You learn to respond to life with more self-compassion, emotional regulation, and confidence, creating lasting change and a calmer, more grounded nervous system.
Why Choose IFS therapy for anxiety in Newcastle
At Inner Child Work Newcastle Upon Tyne, we specialise in Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy for anxiety for adults experiencing anxiety, depression, trauma, and relational challenges.
IFS therapy for anxiety is a gentle, trauma-informed approach that focuses on understanding the different parts of you, especially those that may be driving anxiety or overprotecting vulnerable parts. By working with these parts, you can calm your nervous system, reduce reactivity, and develop lasting emotional regulation.
Many people find traditional talk therapy for anxiety helpful, but may still feel stuck in patterns of worry, overthinking, or hypervigilance. Our approach goes deeper, combining IFS therapy, inner child work, and nervous system-informed techniques to help you safely explore your emotional patterns, release stored emotional pain, and build self-trust.
We offer therapy for anxiety face-to-face in Newcastle Upon Tyne as well as online sessions, making it accessible wherever you are. Every session is tailored to your unique needs, helping you move from constant anxiety to a calmer, more grounded, and empowered way of living.
Testimonial
"I've had years of different therapy and nothing has ever got to the root of my issues like what you've introduced me to"
“I just wanted to thank you firstly, for all the incredible sessions. You’ve made a massive difference to my inner children. I’m understanding myself better and I’m checking in with them and some of them are pretty much healed now. So thank you, thank you. Like I’ve said before, I’ve had years of different therapy and nothing has ever got to the root of my issues like what you’ve introduced me to so thank you. I’m very, very grateful to have found you and for all the incredible help you gave me. And I’ve had almost 40 years of just not feeling good enough and my inner critic ruling and I’ve really learned to love my inner children and understand where they’re coming from and I’ve just got a very different relationship with myself now and I don’t feel petrified of people anymore”.
No.01
General information
IFS therapy Newcastle is based on the idea that we all have different “parts” within us. These parts often develop as ways of helping us cope with difficult experiences, relationships, or emotions. Sometimes, however, these parts can become stuck in patterns that create distress, anxiety, low mood, or relationship difficulties.
In IFS therapy Newcastle, we gently explore your thoughts, feelings, and life experiences, both past and present to better understand these different parts of your inner world. We work at a safe and manageable pace to help you notice how certain emotions, beliefs, or reactions may be connected to earlier experiences.
As therapy progresses, we often begin to uncover and understand parts of you that may hold painful memories, unmet needs, or strong emotions that have been pushed aside or protected over time.
By bringing compassionate attention and understanding to these experiences, many people find that these parts begin to feel less overwhelming or controlling.
Over time, this process helps reduce the influence that past experiences may have on your current mood, behaviour, and relationships. The aim of IFS therapy is to support a deeper sense of self-understanding, emotional balance, and lasting change.
If you are considering IFS therapy Newcastle or Tyne and Wear and would like to explore whether it feels right for you, you are welcome to get in touch.
It can be difficult to know at the beginning exactly how long therapy will last, as everyone’s experiences, goals, and pace of change are different.
At the start of our work together, we will talk about what you hope to gain from therapy and consider a realistic timeframe. We will also review progress together at regular intervals to make sure therapy continues to feel helpful and aligned with your needs.
Many people begin to notice positive shifts earlier on, but meaningful and lasting change often takes time. For deeper therapeutic work, IFS psychotherapy commonly involves a commitment of anywhere between around 6 months and 3 years.
Our aim is always to support improvement as early as possible, while working at a pace that feels safe, steady, and sustainable for you.
I aim to create a therapeutic space that feels relaxed, welcoming, and safe. I’m a laid-back therapist and I value therapy feeling different from a clinical or medical environment. Many people worry that therapy might feel formal, intimidating, or uncomfortable, and I work intentionally to create a space where you can feel at ease being yourself.
Sessions are guided by you. You’re welcome to bring whatever feels most important, whether that’s something current, something from your past, or simply how you’re feeling in the moment. My role is to listen carefully, support exploration, and gently help you understand patterns, emotions, and experiences that may be affecting you.
I often work with people who are highly sensitive, empathic, gentle and attuned to others. Many of my clients identify as Highly Sensitive People (HSPs) and may find themselves naturally caring for others’ needs, sometimes at the expense of their own.
Clients I work with frequently notice patterns such as people pleasing, over-extending themselves, over-functioning in relationships, or finding it difficult to set and maintain boundaries. Over time, these patterns can contribute to experiences of anxiety, depression, burnout and nervous system collapse.
I also work with many people who have experienced complex or developmental trauma, particularly those who grew up in environments where emotional safety, consistency, or understanding may have been limited. These early experiences can often shape how someone relates to themselves and others in adulthood.
My work often focuses on supporting Highly Sensitive People who are working through the impact of complex trauma, helping them develop healthier boundaries, reconnect with their own needs, and build more balanced and fulfilling relationships.
I support clients with a range of emotional and psychological difficulties, particularly those connected to trauma, relational patterns, and emotional overwhelm.
Some of the experiences clients commonly bring include:
Anxiety and chronic worry
Low mood or depression
Burnout and emotional exhaustion
Difficulties with boundaries and people pleasing
Relationship and attachment difficulties
Low self-worth or harsh self-criticism
Feeling overwhelmed by emotions
Patterns of over-functioning or feeling responsible for others
Effects of complex or developmental trauma
Difficulties linked to childhood emotional neglect or inconsistent caregiving
Feeling stuck in repeated life or relationship patterns
- Emotional abuse
Although it can feel natural to want to go straight to your inner child parts, this can sometimes cause overwhelm or re-traumatisation. In IFS therapy Newcastle, it’s important to first build safety and get to know your protective parts. These are the parts of you that are trying to keep you safe. This part of the process is just as important as working with wounded parts.
Working through resistance and protective patterns gradually helps create a sense of stability and safety in your nervous system. With the support of a skilled therapist, you can approach painful emotions and inner child work safely, at a pace that feels manageable, so healing becomes possible without feeling overwhelmed.
During consultation, you’ll be asked about reasons for seeking therapy with brief information about the presentations you’re struggling with to determine if I am a right fit for your needs. I will talk through my style and approach to therapy and guide you through how to book your first appointment.
get in touch today
Please share your availability and therapy requirements.
I will be in touch to arrange a free 15-minute consultation where we will discuss your reasons for seeking therapy and you can get a feel for whether IFS Therapy Newcastle is right for you.