Depression Counselling in Lions Bay, BC.

Depression is extremely complex - at times it can completely turn your life upside down and rob you of any joy or happiness that you previously felt. Yet other times it can also show up in more subtle ways throughout your life, almost unknowingly at first. Every person is different but one commonality with depression is that it can make you feel incredibly alone and self-deprecating. Isolation feeds depression and hinders our functioning. My aim is to create a compassionate relationship so that you don’t feel alone. I’ll offer empathy and kindness while we gently work as a team to find what works for you in your journey towards a healthier mind.

I help client with depressive symptoms by listening and validating their experience and helping them change their negative self talk. This negative self talk that clients experience are contributing to their feelings of depression. I use a technique called cognitive behavioural therapy to help clients release their depressive symptoms. By creating a safe enviornment to talk about their concerns healing and change occurs through the counselling relationship. Dealing with your depression will allow you to have a happy life.

I work with clients to manage symptoms of depression, which can be accompanied with a sense of helplessness and hopelessness that can create a negative valence around an individual’s daily functioning. A persistent feeling of sadness and doom can be accompanied with a loss of interest in activities that were once enjoyable. While the causes of depression can be related to brain chemistry, genetics, stressful life events, and medical conditions, CBT can be effective in identifying the interactions between one’s thoughts, behaviours, emotions, and their environment. Healthy coping mechanisms such as eating healthy, exercise, adequate sleep, and managing stress levels can help combat depression

Depression is a condition that varies greatly between each presentation. It often is a downstream effect of other dynamics and relationships that takes a serious toll on the body, the nervous system, digestion, relationships and emotional well-being. My approach to treating depression begins with respect and understanding of the individual experience, their past, present, and concept of the future. I take that understanding of past experience, and beliefs of the future, pain in the present, and to provide safety, support, and strategy to improve your well-being and cultivate resilience through life's significant challenges. Depression can also look like anger, fatigue, isolation, etc.

Benefits of Depression, Trauma Counselling with me: * Acquire a better understanding of Depression or Trauma * Express yourself Verbally and Emotionally * Reduce, Manage, or Defeat your thoughts and behaviours * Improve your Communication skills * Regain your Freedom, Happiness and life * Discover what triggers you and how it affects you * Improve your self-Esteem and Confidence * Acquire the skill to recognize unhealthy behaviours * Apply the tools to change them * Implement realistic Goals * Explore your behaviour and what motivates it * Learn how to manage or prevent recurrent episodes * Minimize or Eliminate your fears

Depression can color how we see the world, ourselves and other people. Activities that used to be fun are not fun anymore and doing small things can feel like a chore. We might lose our sense of meaning and purpose and struggle to motivate ourselves. I want you know that there is hope, even if you cannot fully feel it right now. When working with depression, I help my clients to develop skills to improve their mood . Sometimes making little changes can help you feel better, which results in hope and lead to more hope and create an upward spiral. I also always help my clients heal the roots of their depression since this is an important part of recovering from depression.

In the treatment of depression, we explore the factors that contributed to depression. This process includes helping my clients to identify the unhelpful and painful emotions and transform them in to helpful ones which relatively results in change in healthy behaviours. Most of us are unaware of the suffering and painful underlying emotions . By creating an empathic and safe space, I ease the difficulty of exploration. In addition, I help the clients work to access deep down unmet needs and to bring resilient responses in face of difficult situations.

I can help you explore feelings that you may not be aware of. I can help you understand how your behavior and mood can be affected by unresolved issues from your past or present. Some depression symptoms may be low self-esteem, fatigue, feelings of worthlessness, changes in sleep, and feelings of loneliness. I offer counselling that will help you understand and work through difficult relationships or situations that may be causing or contributing to your depression. I encourage you to talk through your feelings in order to make positive change in your life.

If depression could speak, it would say "why bother?" Depression leaves us feeling unmotivated, hopeless, and negative about ourselves and our potential. In counselling, I provide a compassion-focused approach to treating depression that will help you to increase your sense self-worth and build motivation to mobilize yourself. I believe that when treating depression, it is essential to explore emotions such as anger, guilt and shame that often perpetuate a defeated and empty state. Doing so can feel uncomfortable, but is ultimately liberating. Many of my depressed - even suicidal - clients report that therapy has helped improve their mood and take meaningful action in their lives.

Research tells us that depression is the most treatable mental health issue. I am passionate about conceptualizing depression as a symptom instead of root problem. Depression is a normal response to things like painful life experiences, suppressed emotion, attachment trauma, abuse, complicated grief, loss of self-efficacy. Re-establishing connection to ourselves (i.e., our inner worlds), our bodies, important relationships, spirituality, meaningful work in life, etc., have all been shown to lead to a significant decrease in depressive symptoms. Savoring positive emotional experiences, and being relentless in the search for hope, are things I partner with my clients to do.

Depression can be deeply painful, robbing you of energy, motivation, and hope. It creates a negative view of life, your self, and your future. It typically disrupts sleep patterns, appetite, emotions, and your thinking ability. I use the clinical practice of cognitive behavioural therapy to help people regain healthy control over their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and reclaim a sense of influence over their life style and life situation's. Coaching you to refocus, set small daily goals, celebrate your successes, and learn new behavioral and thinking skills can take time but the good news is that once you have acquired these skills you have them for life.

Depression affects the mind and the body. It can lead to isolation, health problems and difficulties maintaining all of your relationships. You may have lost sight of your personal resources and feel like your brain is spinning out of control. I can help you find your way back by: supporting you with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) where we examine and challenge your thinking and acting; using Neurofeedback (NFB) to retrain your brain to self regulate, staying out of depression; or with EMDR where I help you to resolve trauma or past hurts, allowing you to get to a place of emotional well being by lessening the emotional charge.

Depression can negatively affect our relationships, ability to concentrate, feelings of self-worth, and life enjoyment. Even getting out of bed in the morning can be tough. We know that counselling can help by interrupting patterns of thought and behaviour that feed the depression. I work with you by sharing skills designed to positively change the way you think about things and the way you interact with others and the world around you. You may feel helpless or hopeless, but know that you are not alone.