Depression Counselling in Courtenay, BC.

Many people these days experience depression and yet the severity of the symptoms and impacts on your life can vary greatly. You may want to seek out counselling if you are experiencing some signs of depression such as fatigue, irritability, difficulty sleeping, doing less of the activities you enjoy, weight loss, anxiety, difficultly concentrating and paying attention, or a general unhappiness with your life. Treatment for depression can address the symptoms and also explore what is required to overcome into the future. Benefits for treating depression are limitless and include a greater sense of day to day well-being, enhanced relationships, more job satisfaction, enhanced self esteem.

Depression can feel like an empty pit and a hopeless one at that. If you are struggling with depression, counselling can help you to recover from numbness, gain clarity and realign yourself with your values. I will work with you to process your feelings and experiences in order to help you get to a more compassionate, hope-filled place. I will hold the space for you to feel all your feelings and get in touch with your body.

My approach is to work with you to understand all of the many layers of your life which may have caused your depression. Then we can collaboratively develop a plan for getting better, one step at a time. I use therapies such as CBT, ACT, and EMDR as needed to speed your recovery in collaboration with you. Most important is our therapeutic relationship and connection for change you can count on.

Are you struggling to get out of bed, losing interest in once-loved activities or feeling helpless and hopeless? The lethargic and foggy shutdown of depression can make everything in life feel just a few inches out of reach. The good news is that depression is readily treatable. I would be glad to help you explore what is keeping your body stuck in numb disconnection. Next, we form a plan to help you back to your best self. Together we tackle here-and-now symptoms with strategies of mindfulness and CBT, while also untying old knots from the past with emotion-focused and inner-child work. The heaviness of depression is your body asking for care. Are you ready to answer its call?

Depression is often associated with negative beliefs about oneself and the world, and EMDR can help to desensitize and reprocess these negative beliefs, leading to a more adaptive and positive worldview. Through the use of bilateral stimulation, such as eye movements or tapping, EMDR can help to process the distressing memories and beliefs, reducing the intensity of the emotional response and increasing emotional resilience. By addressing the underlying negative beliefs, EMDR can help to alleviate symptoms of depression and improve overall mood and well-being.

The psychology part of my biopsychsocial approach to depression is Mindfulness Based Cognitive Behavioural therapy. In cultivating a mindfulness practice we are able to bring our feelings and thought to the present. Since the hallmark of depression is ruminating on our past actions and circumstances, MCBT can help undermine the power of those thoughts on our mental wellness. Through making connections in group care and partnering with yoga studios we can create holistic emotional tool belts to treat depression and prevent the onset of future episodes. I have a passion for working with women with postpartum depression.

The circumstances and issues that you are dealing with are unique to you, but you don't have to face them alone. Every individual has different experiences, perceptions, feelings, thoughts, beliefs, values, attitudes, cultural backgrounds and "upbringings". Counselling sessions are private and confidential, and can provide a way for you to explore your problems and really tune in to your feelings. This is an opportunity to speak freely about your circumstances and release pent up feelings, without having to worry about what others think or feel, and without receiving unwanted advise from family, friends or coworkers. At the root of the problem, there are very real, legitimate and understandable reasons for feeling the way you feel, thinking the way...(view profile to read more)