Gina has been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker for over 2 decades and has spent the past 25 years of her career helping individuals and families learn to adapt and cope with difficult life transitions. She joins Dawn in this episode to talk about her journey to becoming a therapist, what high functioning anxiety looks like and how we can work to beat the cycles of anxiety in both ourselves and others. KEY TAKEAWAYS  When a cascade of things that Gina couldn’t control occurred, she realised she had been suffering from high functioning anxiety most of her life. When Gina started recognising her anxiety and allowing herself to be more honest and vulnerable with her family, she found that her family’s stress and anxiety started to reduce. After working with older clients, Gina started to wonder if she could start to work with teens, so she could stop cycles of anxieties before they take hold. This led to her creating the Combating Teen Anxiety programme. Fear of failure, even in young people, can be a massive contributor to anxiety and mood regulation, often then feeding into overwhelm. When individuals have negative beliefs about themselves, they often look to their environment to validate these feelings. Creating a vicious cycle. Parents need to look at their own mental health and difficulties, trying to work on these to ensure the behaviours aren’t modelled by their children. From a young age, open communication with our children builds trust and prevents a lot of shame and anxiety from being internalised.   BEST MOMENTS  “As long as you keep getting on with stuff and as long as you keep getting on with stuff it’s like it [anxiety] doesn’t exist” “I started to recognise that I can’t control everything” “As humans, we’re far more than just a few labels” VALUABLE RESOURCES If you would like to experience hypnotherapy, please click the link below to book a taster session. The charge will be refunded against any therapy session or product download from Dawn’s website. https://calendly.com/dkmtherapy/hypnotherapy-taster-session     CONTACT METHODFinding Freedom Facebook Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/5046568725414144/) Email Dawn ([email protected])   ABOUT THE GUEST Gina Nelson   Free Gift: www.combatingteenanxiety.com   Additional Ways to Connect With Gina   www.facebook.com/authenticgains   www.instagram.com/authentic_gains/   [email protected]   Gina has been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker for over 2 decades and has spent the past 25 years of her career helping individuals and families learn to adapt and cope with difficult life transitions.   She is the creator of Combating Teen Anxiety; her proven 10-step method to reduce teen anxiety and give teens the skills to manage their emotions so that they can succeed in their future goals.  She created this parent and teen communication journal designed to give teens the language and tools to express themselves with their parents when conversations are difficult to discuss in person.   In addition to this journal and working with people in her private practice through online training programs, virtual coaching nationwide, and in person and online psychotherapy in California and Idaho, she also offers corporate workshops and keynote speaking. Her expertise is in teaching teens and adults to catch their anxiety before it gets out of control, and to practice owning, speaking, and releasing their emotions in a more productive way.   As a Certified EMDR Therapist, her specialized training helps decrease client’s negative beliefs that fuel their anxiety and provide them with a new perspective. Her experience as a Certified Daring Way Facilitator™ encourages clients to embrace vulnerability as a necessary step for shame resilience and connection.     Gina’s clinical expertise combined with her personal journey raising 3 kids through their challenges and her son’s gender tran