Anxiety Therapy in Sherman Oaks
Anxiety Therapy in Sherman Oaks with Julie Klamon, LMFT
Anxiety has a way of turning ordinary days into something you have to brace against. You check your phone before you are fully awake and your stomach is already tight. A meeting, a text from your kid's school, a glance at the calendar, and your mind is three steps ahead, running the worst version of every outcome. For a lot of people in Sherman Oaks, this is not an occasional bad week. It is the background setting their nervous system has gotten stuck on.
I have spent more than 20 years as a licensed marriage and family therapist helping people quiet that noise. Anxiety therapy is not about talking yourself out of feeling anxious or convincing yourself you have nothing to worry about. It is about understanding what your anxiety is actually doing inside your body and your thinking, and then changing the pattern so it stops running the show.
My office in Agoura Hills is about 30 to 35 minutes from Sherman Oaks via the 101 West. I also see clients virtually anywhere in California, which many people prefer when the drive itself feels like one more stressor on an already full day.
When Anxiety Becomes More Than Worry
Worry is normal. It is not what fills my schedule. What brings people in is the kind of anxiety that will not switch off. You lie awake rehearsing conversations that may never happen. Your shoulders stay tight even on a quiet weekend. You start declining invitations, putting off phone calls, or avoiding the freeway, and the list of things you steer around keeps growing. That avoidance feels like relief in the moment, but it quietly shrinks your life. Once anxiety reaches that point, it is a loop your body has learned, and willpower alone rarely breaks it.
Anxiety Therapy for the Sherman Oaks Community
Sherman Oaks rewards people who push hard. The streets south of the boulevard are full of accomplished professionals, many of them working in or around the entertainment industry, where the next job is never guaranteed and your worth can feel tied to your last result. That environment produces a particular flavor of anxiety: high-functioning on the outside, exhausted underneath. People keep performing because performing is what got them here, until one day the engine starts to sputter.
The pressure reaches kids too. Families here invest enormous energy in their children's futures, and teenagers absorb that. I see students from competitive schools who measure themselves against classmates constantly, who treat a single B as evidence they are falling behind. There is also a quiet expectation in an affluent area like this that you should be fine, that struggling somehow does not fit the picture. Anxiety does not care about any of that. The people I work with from Sherman Oaks are capable and driven, and they have simply hit the point where managing it alone is no longer working.
How I Approach Anxiety Therapy
No two people carry anxiety the same way, so no two treatment plans look alike. Some clients arrive with panic attacks that come out of nowhere. Others describe a steady hum of dread that never fully lifts. Some have been anxious as far back as they can remember, and others started feeling it after a specific trigger like a layoff, a health scare, or a hard year. We begin by getting clear on what your anxiety looks like and what keeps feeding it. From there we build skills you can actually use, including cognitive behavioral techniques, gradual exposure, and grounding strategies tailored to your situation. You can read more about my general approach on my anxiety therapy page.
The goal is not to erase every uncomfortable feeling. Some anxiety is useful information. The aim is to get your nervous system out of overdrive so you can think clearly, sleep through the night, and stop organizing your days around what you are trying to avoid. That shift is realistic, and most people start to feel it sooner than they expect.
Frequently Asked Questions About Anxiety Therapy in Sherman Oaks
Anxiety therapy addresses persistent worry, panic attacks, social anxiety, and physical symptoms like a racing heart, tension, and trouble sleeping. Many of the people I see in Sherman Oaks carry pressure from competitive workplaces and high-achieving schools, and we work on the specific situations that set the anxiety off. We start with what is causing the most disruption and build practical skills from there.
Yes. Academic anxiety is one of the most common reasons Sherman Oaks parents reach out to me. Between rigorous course loads at schools like Notre Dame High School and the constant comparison that comes with a competitive area, a lot of teens here feel they can never do enough. I help them separate real effort from perfectionism and give them tools to manage the pressure without falling apart.
My Agoura Hills office is about 30 to 35 minutes from Sherman Oaks via the 101 West. I also offer virtual sessions to anyone in California, which many clients prefer when an anxious day makes the drive feel like one more thing to manage.
Yes. Secure video sessions are available anywhere in California. For anxiety in particular, meeting from home can lower the barrier to starting, since you do not have to plan around traffic on the 101 or Ventura Boulevard before you even sit down to talk.
Yes. I work with children ages 8 and up, teens, and adults. Anxiety looks different at each age, so I use more play and concrete tools with younger children and more direct skill building with teens and adults. When it helps, I bring parents into the process.
Who I Work With
Children (8+)
Teens
Adults
Seniors
In-Person and Virtual Anxiety Therapy Near Sherman Oaks
My office is in Agoura Hills, CA 91301, right off the 101 freeway and an easy drive west from Sherman Oaks. I also see clients from the surrounding communities, including Encino, CA, Studio City, CA, Van Nuys, CA, and Woodland Hills, CA. Virtual therapy sessions are available to anyone located anywhere within the state of California.
If anxiety has been setting the tone for your days, I would be glad to talk. Schedule a complimentary phone consultation and we can figure out whether working together makes sense.