Welcome to Anxiety Center of Tampa!

Welcome to Anxiety Center of Tampa’s website and blog! Anxiety Center of Tampa was founded in 2019 by Lori Aitken, LMHC and Mary-Eugenia Brizuela, LMHC. Lori and Mary met in 2017 at Rogers Behavioral Health in Tampa, FL. working in the Anxiety and OCD Intensive Outpatient Program. They realized during their time working there that there weren’t many therapists in the Tampa Bay Area that provided specialized treatment for generalized anxiety and OCD. To address the long waitlists for outpatient services, they began discussing the idea of opening a group practice that would specialize in providing Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), the gold standard treatment for OCD and related disorders.

Anxiety Center of Tampa opened its doors in April 2019 at its Midtown Tampa office. Lori and Mary began to provide ERP treatment for OCD at the outpatient level. Their 1200+ square foot office space provides plenty of space for multiple clients to be seen simultaneously. Their group room has hosted group counseling programs, support group meetings, and networking events. Today, Anxiety Center of Tampa has grown to add 3 additional therapists and an administrative assistant who will soon become the practice’s practicum student. This growth is a direct result of their commitment to provide individualized treatment to each client with compassion while upholding the basic principles of ERP.

Lori and Mary have worked together to bring to the Tampa Bay Area a group practice that can tailor the needs of each client in order to maximize their benefit from treatment. Clients can be met in the office, via Telehealth, or in the community based on their specific needs for treatment. This ensures that clients can generalize their treatment to the environment where they feel impaired as it may not always be ideal for progress to carry out treatment solely in one office. Clients can also benefit from flexible scheduling frequencies and times. They understand that ERP treatment may require more than the standard one-hour per week treatment model. Therefore, Anxiety Center of Tampa’s clients can be scheduled for extended sessions and/or multiple sessions per week, in addition to the standard weekly session.

Anxiety Center of Tampa has new upcoming events starting this Summer and Fall. Lori will be hosting a fear-of-flying workshop, Mary will be facilitating 3-day introductory workshops to ERP, and a family support group will soon begin meeting. Anxiety Center of Tampa is excited to expand services across Florida and to the Tampa Bay Area community.

For more information about services, please contact Anxiety Center of Tampa at 813-773-5807. Overcoming your anxiety has become more accessible with therapists that are passionate about your recovery and trained in the evidence-based treatment necessary to address OCD and related-disorders.