Depression Counselling in Mill Bay, BC.

Dealing with depression requires that we both lean into the emotions that we are feeling while also making small and steady changes in our daily life. I can help you to learn how to tolerate negative emotions and understand why you might be feeling them. I can also work with you to set up small and achievable goals so that you can take the steps you want in making positive changes in your life.

Therapy with me offers a grounded, compassionate space to explore your experience of depression without shame or pressure. Together, we'll gently untangle the weight you've been carrying, reconnect with your strengths and build tools for navigation daily life. Whether your depression feels like numbness, sadness, or exhaustion, you don't have to face it alone. Our work will focus on hope through relationship, creating space for change, and helping you feel more life yourself again--bit by bit.

Depression can feel like a wet blanket you wear around you day in and day out. You may find it hard to remember what if felt like before or have hope that you will ever feel normal again. The most valuable thing I can do for a client with depression is to inspire hope, to help you regain your confidence and recover a positive, constructive outlook on life. My therapeutic approach for helping clients move through their depression incorporates a compassionate and nonjudgmental acceptance so important to supporting changes in ourselves.

If you're up against depression, we'd collaborate and become a team of sorts. Through thoughtful questioning and listening, we'd begin to identify alternative narratives that challenge your depressive story. By attending to your strengths, resilience and prior successes, you can begin to foster a sense of hope and feel empowered to envision a future where you can live beyond the limitations of depression.

When you are depressed you may feel sad, weepy, hopeless, helpless, unmotivated, maybe sleep too much or not enough and also lose interest in sexuality, your friends and activities. These feelings last a long time and are really hard on relationships. You may think that you will never be happy again. You may have tried drugs but now want to take charge yourself of the changes you want to feel in your life. Counseling starts with your story of what is happening. I will ask lots of questions to help you get a clear idea of the causes and patterns in your life. We'll work on coping strategies and maybe try therapies like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. You'll feel more content with your life.

I am available to support at any point in your experience of depression. Recovery from a episode of depression can take time, warmth, patience and small steps. Prevention can involve learning about thought patterns, reducing triggers, plans for action, consultation with other health professionals and lifestyle changes. Some approaches I draw on include, talk therapy, mindfulness, EMDR (eye movement desentization and reprocessing) and CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy).

I believe depression can be the body and mind's way of protesting against aspects of life that are uncomfortable and may not be working anymore. Exploring depression requires patience, gentleness and willingness to wonder what else your life could be. We will look at areas of your life that are successful and work together to find ways to transfer these feelings into all aspects of your life. Depression doesn't have to be a lifelong experience.

Living with depression can be like wading through mud. Every step requires enormous effort. All the while, the gas tank is empty. For many, the urge is to take to bed, as the world just feels like too much to face. I like to work on the root cause of depression while simultaneously collaborating on small manageable steps to regain confidence and interest in living a valued life. I find that working on what seems to be an unsolvable problem is often the starting point of recovery. My goal is to provide support and guidance that goes beyond just the sense of feeling "better". Rather, my aim is for my client's to thrive, with the newfound capacity to experience joy and happiness.

I can guide you to take that first important step using relevant therapeutic insights and my own experience. If your depression is crippling your life or is hurting your loved ones, you need to do something even if it is hard to believe that anything can ever be different. You may tend to feel that nothing matters or that talking or sharing can not help you. Even when you feel you have little or no control, getting a sense of what is going on can provide a small opening you need to think and feel differently. A small change at times when we are desperate can make a huge difference in the end. Yes, it takes patience and tenacity. You need to show up and to be prepared to do what you can.