Meredith Vizinni, MA
Licensed Professional Counselor
- Specialties: Generalized Anxiety, Social anxiety, adjustment to major life changes, and stress
- Also skilled and experienced in: Depression
- Clients: Teens (16+) and adults
- Location: In-person in Charlottesville, Virginia and virtual throughout Virginia
- Insurance Accepted: Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, and Tricare East
For over eight years I’ve worked with people who are worn down by anxiety — the kind that keeps you up at night, that has you rehearsing a conversation before you have it, that turns an ordinary week into something you have to brace for. I also work with people carrying heavy stress, and with those trying to find their footing after a change: a new job, a relationship shift, a move, a semester that got away from them. Anxiety and low mood often go together, and we’ll address both.
A calm place to slow down
Most of us already know how to (try to) talk ourselves down. You’re fine. Nothing bad is going to happen. Stop overthinking it. For some of us, it works for about ten minutes, and then the worry comes back — because underneath the reassurance, you never actually found a reason to believe you were okay.
I want this to be a genuinely calm, safe, judgment-free space. You should be able to say the thing out loud that you haven’t said to anyone. But comfort that lasts has to be built on something. So we slow down, and then we look carefully at the situation you’re afraid of — so that when you tell yourself you’re safe, you actually believe it.
I believe that it is important to learn to slow down, process, and plan on your own, so that when you feel relief, you are able to maintain it. Even after you stop seeing me.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is mostly conversation, but it isn’t the talk therapy you may be used to. Chatting about your week or venting in a haphazard way tends to lead in circles. We will make a plan that is based on the most recent scientific understanding of whatever you are facing. And we will follow it, so that you can start feeling better.
Anxiety and worry
For a lot of people, anxiety doesn’t attach to one specific thing — it’s a general hum that lands on whatever is nearest. Work, health, money, family, a conversation from three days ago. You may find yourself running scenarios, seeking reassurance, checking, over-preparing, or putting off decisions until they make themselves. We take those worries one at a time and think them all the way through, so you stop having the same argument with yourself every night. Panic, health worries, and perfectionism respond to the same approach.
Social anxiety
If social or performance situations are the problem, the goal is straightforward: you get back into the situations you’ve been avoiding — the meeting, the presentation, the party, the difficult conversation — and you stay in them, using the thinking skills you’ve built to steady yourself while you’re there. Over time, anxiety stops deciding what you do. And because the skills are yours, you keep making progress after our work together ends.
Stress, pressure, and life transitions
Stress isn’t the same as anxiety. Sometimes the demands really are too many, and the problem is a schedule, a workload, or a role you didn’t sign up for. Graduate students and faculty, people in demanding professional jobs, parents, and anyone in the middle of a transition that’s shaken their sense of stability — the work here is to slow down, sort out what’s actually within your control, and figure out what response is most likely to work.
If you’re ready to take that first step, I’d love to connect.
I look forward to meeting you!
I also see clients in Charlottesville and by video, wherever they are in Virginia. Read more about our online therapy throughout Virginia.