We’ve spent over 40 years combined helping people in Salt Lake City get out from under anxiety. Not manage it from a distance, but actually move through it. As certified Emotionally Focused therapists, our work goes deeper than coping strategies. We want to understand what’s really driving your anxiety, because that’s where lasting change happens. Every client who walks through our door gets treated like a whole person, not a symptom list — met exactly where they are, without judgment.
“Ed is an incredibly skilled and gifted therapist. He creates a warm, safe and non-judgmental space that has truly allowed me to get into a place of vulnerability and explore parts of myself, fears, and insecurities, that I haven’t always felt safe exploring with past therapists. Ed has a unique ability to make you feel seen, supported and accepted, while at the same time guiding you toward growth and healing. I highly recommend Ed for your therapy journey!”
– Jenn B.
Here’s the thing about anxiety- it’s not a flaw. It’s your brain doing its job, trying to protect you from danger. The problem is when the threat response doesn’t know how to stand down. It stays on. And what started as a protective instinct turns into something that hijacks your sleep, your focus, your relationships, and your sense of who you are. Getting to know what’s happening inside your nervous system is usually the first crack in the door.
Anxiety isn’t just a feeling. It settles into your body, rewires your thinking, and colors everything you feel — often all at once, and sometimes without you even realizing it’s there. Recognizing it is a start.
Physical Indicators
A racing heart, a tight chest, muscles that never fully unclench. Many people also deal with chronic headaches, bone-deep fatigue, and sleep that doesn’t feel restful no matter how many hours they get. Digestive trouble is more common than most people expect — the gut-brain connection is real, and the stomach tends to know when something’s wrong before the mind does.
Mental Indicators
Anxious thinking has a way of looping. The same worry, the same worst-case scenario, running on repeat even when you logically know things are probably fine. Concentration gets harder. Decisions that should be simple feel enormous. And quieting your mind at the end of the day? Often the first thing to go.
Emotional Indicators
It can look like irritability. Or a low-grade dread you can’t quite name. Over time, a lot of people start pulling back — from friends, from things they used to enjoy, from anything that requires more than they feel they have. The overwhelm becomes the new normal. And that’s usually when people start looking for help.
Anxiety therapy in Salt Lake City at Peterson Family Therapy isn’t about handing you a list of coping tools and sending you home. We want to understand why your nervous system is stuck where it is — and work from there.
Anxiety doesn’t usually have a single origin story. For most people, it’s a layering — years of stress, relationships that asked too much, or a nervous system that learned early on to stay braced for whatever comes next. Sometimes it builds slowly, quietly, until one day it isn’t quiet anymore. Other times it arrives suddenly, tied to a loss, a major transition, or an experience that left you feeling like the ground shifted and never fully came back.
Before anything else, we work to create a space where your nervous system can actually relax a little. That’s not a small thing — for a lot of anxious clients, feeling genuinely safe with another person is itself a new experience. Every treatment plan here is built around the individual. No templates.
Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) helps us look at how your earliest attachment experiences may be quietly shaping your nervous system today. This isn’t abstract — it’s practical, and it tends to get at things other approaches miss.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is where we get into the thought patterns keeping anxiety running. Identifying them, testing them, and learning to respond differently. Useful, concrete work.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) takes a different angle — instead of fighting every anxious thought, you learn to stop letting them steer. Your values lead instead. For a lot of clients, this is the shift that finally unsticks things.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) rounds things out with real-world emotional regulation skills. Especially helpful when anxiety hits hard and fast and you need to know what to do in the moment.
Woven through all of it: mindfulness and grounding. Not as a soft add-on, but as serious neurological work. Your brain can learn to feel safe. It takes consistency — but it happens.
Finding the right anxiety therapist is one of the most important decisions you can make for your mental health. Here is what sets Peterson Family Therapy apart as a leading choice for anxiety therapy in Salt Lake City.
Founder & Certified EFT Supervisor
Ed has spent more than two decades helping people in Salt Lake City untangle the emotional patterns that keep anxiety stuck on repeat. What sets Ed apart is his ability to create a therapeutic environment that feels both challenging and safe — pushing clients to grow while never losing sight of the human being in front of him. Trained in EFT, CBT, ACT, and DBT, Ed brings a rich clinical toolkit to anxiety treatment, but his greatest strength may be his ability to help clients finally understand why their nervous system works the way it does — and what to do about it.
“Anxiety rarely shows up out of nowhere. There’s almost always a story beneath it. My job is to help you find that story, make sense of it, and stop letting it write your future.”
Therapist & Trauma Specialist
Candace has dedicated more than twenty years to helping people navigate some of life’s most overwhelming emotional experiences. Her clinical background spans crisis intervention, mindfulness-based care, and emotionally focused individual therapy — all of which inform the way she approaches anxiety in her Salt Lake City practice. Clients consistently describe Candace as someone who makes them feel genuinely understood from the very first session, which is no small thing when anxiety has a way of making people feel profoundly alone in their struggles.
“Anxiety thrives in isolation. When my clients finally feel heard and understood — truly understood — something shifts. That moment of connection is often where healing begins.”
Do you accept insurance?
We’re out-of-network providers, and we want to be upfront about what that means. It means insurance companies don’t get to decide how long your treatment lasts or what it looks like. Your care is built around what you actually need. If your plan includes out-of-network mental health benefits, we’ll give you a superbill to submit for potential reimbursement. We also take HSA and FSA payments, which a lot of our clients find helpful.
What’s the difference between anxiety therapy and anxiety treatment?
Anxiety treatment is a broad umbrella — it can include medication, lifestyle changes, apps, self-help strategies, all kinds of things. Anxiety therapy specifically means working one-on-one with a licensed therapist to explore and address what’s actually driving your anxiety. For most people, it’s the most effective path to lasting relief, not just symptom management.
What should I expect in my first session?
Your first session is really about getting to know you — what you’re experiencing, what’s brought you to therapy, and what you hope to change. There’s no pressure to have everything figured out before you arrive. Most clients leave their first session feeling heard and cautiously hopeful, which is a great place to start.
If anxiety has been running the show long enough, we’re here to help you change that. Reach out today to schedule a consultation with Ed or Candace — and take the first step toward finally feeling okay again. You can also call us at (801) 809-7990
Contact us today to schedule your free 15-minute consultation.
Peterson Family Therapy is a family-owned counseling practice in Salt Lake City, Utah. It’s operated by Ed and Candace Peterson, life partners with the desire and skill needed to help couples in crisis, individuals suffering from addiction issues, and anyone dealing with depression and anxiety. Peterson Family Therapy is a member of The International Centre For Excellence In Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT).
Peterson Family Therapy
4505 Wasatch Blvd, #260
Salt Lake City, UT, 84124
(801) 809-7990
