Why Anxiety Isn’t the Enemy: Rethinking Fear in a Trauma-Informed World

Written By stuart thompson

Introduction: A New Perspective on Anxiety

For decades, we’ve been told that anxiety is a fault to fix. Something to suppress. Something to fight.

But what if that narrative is wrong?

What if anxiety isn’t a defect in the human experience, but an intelligent response from a nervous system that has been pushed beyond its limits?

As a Fellow of the ACCPH and the creator of The STILL Method, I’ve spent years exploring this question—working with children, parents, and adults whose lives have been shaped by fear.

The truth is clear: anxiety isn’t the enemy. Avoidance is.

Anxiety as a Signal, Not a Symptom

Most traditional approaches to anxiety focus on eliminating it. We medicate, manage, or distract ourselves from its presence.

But trauma-informed anxiety therapy invites us to listen instead. Anxiety is a signal. It tells us something about the body’s history, its environment, and its unmet need for safety.

When a child freezes at the school gate or an adult rehearses every word before speaking in a meeting, this isn’t weakness—it’s the nervous system doing its best to survive.

The challenge isn’t to crush anxiety. It’s to build enough safety in the body and mind that anxiety no longer has to speak so loudly.

To learn more about this approach, visit The STILL Method.

Trauma-Informed Tools for a Different Way Forward

In The STILL Method, we don’t ask people to push through fear. We give them a framework to:

  • Pause when fear rises

  • Acknowledge what the nervous system is trying to protect

  • Imagine new possibilities beyond fear

  • Listen to their body’s cues with compassion

  • Learn practices that anchor safety in real time

This structured, trauma-informed approach has helped thousands of children, families, and professionals move from survival into connection.

You can read more about how this work began in My Story.

Founder-Led Therapeutic Work: Going Deeper

For some, group programmes aren’t enough. They want a more intensive, personalised process—one that integrates the clinical depth of trauma-informed therapy with the insights of a founder.

This is where my Founder-Led Therapy comes in.

Working with a limited number of private clients each year, I guide individuals through a transformational journey to rewrite their relationship with fear.

This is not symptom management. It is a process of deep personal change.

Rethinking Anxiety at Scale

Whether in one-to-one sessions, schools, or corporate settings, the work is the same: to shift how we as a culture understand anxiety.

Anxiety isn’t a flaw to eradicate. It’s a call to create safety—individually and collectively.

This is the heart of The STILL Method, and the reason I continue to train professionals and organisations to deliver it.

Next Steps

If you’re ready to explore a different way of working with anxiety:

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