Depression Counselling in Penticton, BC.

There are many reasons people experience depression. Depression is a pervasive sadness often accompanied by a sense of powerlessness and is often related to past or current life experiences. Sadness is a normal, healthy response to loss, including a loss of power, but if it goes on too long, it becomes problematic. There are many approaches to treatment, including medication, which some people find helpful in addressing symptoms. However, it does not address root causes. Naming it, looking at underlying causes and exploring new ways of coping with its debilitating thought patterns and feelings can help you move on to reclaim your personal power and rediscover enjoyment in life.

Whether you experience situational or chronic depression counselling and/or therapy can reduce symptoms. Sometimes medication is warrented and Sheila will work with your doctor if required to reduce symptoms of depression. Counselling can help you become aware of unconscious thoughts, feelings and habits and will increase your ability to create lasting change and experience reduction in all depressive symptoms.

Depression isn’t who you are — it’s a response to pain you were never meant to carry alone. In my counselling practice, I offer a steady, compassionate space to explore the heaviness, numbness, and self-doubt that can feel overwhelming. Together, we listen for what your fatigue and sadness are trying to protect, rebuild connection, and gently re-ignite a sense of meaning. You don’t have to move through the darkness on your own. With care, patience, and support, a way forward becomes possible.

Depression can pull you into the darkest places in your mind, to the place where you believe the illusion of total disconnection and loneliness. This is a response that your brain creates. Identifying the processes that triggered that response, we can climb our way up to our true selves and reach the long-lost stability we maybe once had. I can guide you through that darkness for you to reach it.

Olivia is passionate about supporting individuals struggling with depression and the deep isolation it often brings. Using a cognitive behavioral therapy approach, she helps clients identify and understand the underlying causes of their depression, challenge negative thought patterns, and develop healthier perspectives. Olivia also provides practical, actionable steps to help clients re-engage with life, rebuild connections, and rediscover joy. With empathy and expertise, she creates a supportive space for clients to navigate their emotions, regain hope, and work toward meaningful change. Olivia’s goal is to empower her clients to move forward with resilience and a renewed sense of purpose.

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.

I know all about the deep darkness of depression and how to climb out of it. Depression can be brutal and isolating. First we need to be witnessed and understood in our pain in a safe comfortable non-judgemental space. Then we can learn tools and strategies to face the things that seem impossible to face. I will support you to take the steps necessary to improve your depression.

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.