Overcoming Anxiety: Joanne S Williams of Next Generation Psychology On Five Effective Strategies for Mental Well-Being

An Interview With Nancy Landrum

Realize that Your Thoughts Create your Emotional Response. If you want to create a better experience. Say something like… I can handle whatever happens, the trick is that you must be able to feel that emotion for your brain to believe it.

Anxiety seems to be the dis-ease of our times. More people than ever are taking medications to help them cope with stress. Nearly everyone I talk to is consumed with anxious feelings that hijack any pleasure they could be getting from their lives. The pressure to “produce” combined with a perception of “not enough time,” combines to create anxiety, self-doubt, frustration and resentment. Resentment, then, is often taken out on your closest, most important relationships. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Joanne Williams.

Joanne Williams’s mission as a 30-year mental health professional is to teach practical skills to reduce anxiety in her courses, certifying to use a Psychiatric service dog [ESApros.com] and her 1–1 counseling sessions focused on understanding WHY they have anxiety to move to WHAT to do in specific situations.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you tell us a bit about you and your backstory?

I grew up in a family where anxiety was pervasive, experiencing firsthand the challenges it poses. From a young age, I twirled my hair out of anxiety and observed my mother’s obsessive organizing and ridge rigid ways, all without recognizing these behaviors as manifestations of anxiety. It wasn’t until later in life that I understood the impact of anxiety and learned new ways to effectively calm myself after receiving therapy and then I knew this was the field I wanted to be in, as my life’s pursuit.

I discovered simple yet effective ways to manage and confront my fears. Now I recognizes symptoms like feeling shaky, experiencing a racing heart, and avoiding commitments as signs of anxiety or even of panic attacks.

My personal journey taught me that managing anxiety is possible with the right tools and support. I love to emphasize the importance of trusting oneself as one of the most important skills to learn to confront anxiety. This shift in perspective allowed me to pursue my goals, such as getting my master’s degree, while driving 2 hours to school into Boston’s traffic, and overcoming fears related to public speaking, flying, and crowded places be to become a licensed mental health professional now for 30 years and loving every minute of it.

As a successful person in your field, have you or do you experience anxiety? And if so, how do you manage, reduce or eliminate anxiety so you can work efficiently and enjoy your non-work hours?

Yes

And if so, how do you manage, reduce or eliminate anxiety so you can work efficiently and enjoy your non-work hours?

My daily practices support me with maintenance to create calmness or balance in my life. I do the Alignment Formula in step 1 of my 5 tips, with visualization to focus on what I want in my life instead of being focused on what I fear. I religiously do the 4 and 8 breathing, to calm my racing mind. I do Emotional Freedom Tapping acupressure points when any fear arises to shift it immediately. I meditate to get above my thoughts with the intention to just be myself.

Have you gone through a period of time in your life where you felt as though you were drowning in anxiety? If so, please share your experience and what you perceive as the reasons.

Yes, most of my life I was in survival mode, since I also had situations in my life that traumatized me as a young child. When you have situations like that you can stay in “protect mode” that creates trust issues, anxiety and depression to help efforts to cope, in the best way possible.

What or whom did you lean on to help you cope with anxiety?

At first, I relied on my own counselor, who taught me how emotions and thoughts work together to form my perspective on life. Then I relied on myself to manage my anxiety with the skills I had learned.

I remember a time about 13 years ago while flying and having a panic attack grabbing the passenger next to me. Even after being a therapist for 20 years, I didn’t even know about the flying law (ACAA) that you could have your dog on your lap, if a mental health professional provided a letter to present to the airlines. From then on, my dog was on my lap the entire time I flew, that was a game changer for me, and I was willing to fly more to see family.

That is when I started certifying my clients who want to have their dog assist them to fly without panicking. The law did change in 2020 and now the dog needs to be a Psychiatric Service Dog (PSD) to fly, and they can be in no pet housing without breed or weight restrictions, with no pet fees, or go into all public places if the dog reduces their anxiety or other psychological symptoms.

What lessons did you derive from that dark period of time, that serve you now?

Looking back, it made me the strong, persistent, confident, empathic person that I am today. Where I can share these skills with clients to move forward to fulfill their life purpose even though they may have gone through trauma in their lives.

I can see that struggle can position you for success. The hard times happen in all of our lives. Using that experience to learn from, or to your advantage so you can know how to move through situations to find new options, not to stop you as “failures”. Instead of avoiding hard emotions or traumas, see them with new eyes, it will make you more resilient, otherwise you would never have seen the full spectrum of the beauty of life, with the contrasts from the ugly, now I get to assist others to fulfill their life purpose.

Do you have days or circumstances that still cause excessive stress?

Yes, I do.

I use visualizations before I fly, of going to the airport and going through TSA line. As well as seeing that the flight will go well and look at it as more of a challenge to conquer, than a fear to avoid or endure. But having my dog on my lap just makes everything right with the world.

What are your dependable “go to” strategies that you use to restore balance to your emotions?

I have developed the Alignment Formula that makes me refocus my thoughts to create the feelings I want to happen in any given situation, since thoughts create the emotional response. I meditate daily. I use my skills to propel myself through anxiety provoking situations.

Please name five tips, practices, beliefs or affirmations that you recommend to anyone going through a highly stressful time.

1 . Realize that Your Thoughts Create your Emotional Response. If you want to create a better experience. Say something like… I can handle whatever happens, the trick is that you must be able to feel that emotion for your brain to believe it.

2 . Practice the 4–8 Breathing Technique: This technique, supported by medical research, involves inhaling in the nose for 4 counts and exhaling out the mouth for 8 counts to stimulate the Vagus nerve and this induces immediate calming by sending a calming chemical into every major organ.

3 . Find a Motivation Larger than Your Fear: Identify compelling reasons to face your fears, such as the desire to excel in a presentation for recognition or a promotion or to become more confident in social situations to meet the love of your life.

4 . A great first step is to consider a Psychiatric Service Dog (PSD): If your dog helps reduce your anxiety, clients could qualify to have their dog on a plane, go in all public place as a PSD under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

5 . Ask for help when needed from a professional in that field: If you’re not progressing with the above strategies, consult a trained professional. Just as you would NOT call a plumber to fix your roof, you need the right expert to help you navigate mental health issues to develop new skills for lifelong success.

Do you have daily practices that supports you in maintaining peace, calmness or balance in your life?

I do the Alignment Formula in Tip # 1 with visualization to focus on what I want in my life instead of what I fear, I religiously do the 4 and 8 breathing Tip # 2, to calm my mind. I do Emotional Freedom Tapping acupressure points when any fear arises to shift it immediately. I meditate to get above my thoughts with the intention to just be me.

Was there any particular saying, person, or book that taught you the skills that enable you to escape or avoid the higher levels of anxiety that used to plague you?

‘Ask and It Is Given’- by Esther Hicks Shows you the power of your thoughts to create your reality that is currently happening.

Thank you for sharing your wisdom with those who are reading this article. Are there also other ways you are sharing your wisdom?

• Podcast: ‘Anxiety Simplified Going Beyond Psychology’ on all major platforms https://apple.co/3Jj3s4a
• TikTok videos https://www.tiktok.com/@joanne.williams27
• YouTube Channel< ‘Anxiety Simplified Podcast’ — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDpd9iESGPLj5XnlreVIAgA

Wonderful. We are nearly done. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)?

Anthony Robbins and why? Because he has spent a lifetime instilling techniques that work from successful people’s lives and I have followed him since the 1990’s.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

Emotional education in schools and social skills groups in school, with the intention of stopping bullying, to understand our effects on others, and learn ways to communicate with each other without violence. I hope that learning these kinds of skills will reduce gun violence.

How can our readers follow your work online?

• Boost your Confidence 6 week course. Boost your Confidence 6 week Course-https://www.learndesk.us/live/5424381695098880/boost-your-confidence
• Podcast: Anxiety Simplified Going Beyond Psychology on all major platforms https://apple.co/3Jj3s4a
• TikTok video will be out this week also https://www.tiktok.com/@joanne.williams27
• Joanne S. Williams, LCSW to certify a Psych service dog or build confidence skills> https://linktr.ee/joannewilliamslcsw

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

About the Interviewer: Nancy Landrum, MA, Relationship Coach, has authored eight books, including “How to Stay Married and Love it” and “Stepping Twogether: Building a Strong Stepfamily”. Nancy has been coaching couples and stepfamilies with transformative communication skills for over thirty years. Nancy is an engaging interviewer and powerful speaker. Nancy has contributed to The Washington Post, Huffington Post, Authority, Medium, Yahoo, MSN, Psych Central, Thrive, Woman’s Day magazine, and more. Nancy is the Founder of the only one of its kind online relationship solution, www.MillionaireMarriageClub.com. Nancy coaches couples across the globe in person and via Zoom. Nancy’s passion is to guide couples and families to happy lasting marriages where children thrive and lovers love for life.