Depression Counseling in Las Flores, CA.

Depression can be insidious and chronic causing you to feel like you can't connect, you're missing out on life or you're "going through the motions". This is no way to live! Don't settle for feeling detached and disconnected from your life, missing true joy and adventure. Tools can help you feel connected again and release buried feelings that keep you depressed. When depression becomes acute, you can't slow down, relax, can't sleep or sleep too much, feel a deep sadness, heaviness. Using tools for acute depression really helps you get back on track!

Working with the experience of depression is much more than changing our thoughts to change our behavior. Our brains are wired to notice the negative; it's part of our survival. I support my clients in expanding what they notice, and help them discover what works for them by creating a tool kit through experiential relational interventions in session. When I see children, I utilize play therapy as the modality, including Child Centered Play Therapy, Filial Therapy, and Prescriptive Play Therapy. When working with adolescents and adults, I utilize expressive arts, DBT, CBT and Narrative Therapy.

Depression, just the very word feels hopeless and limited, there is a sense of internal and external collapse of the world. Yet it can also be used as a tremendous starting point to examine one's life, goals, expectations and longings, both current and historical. Depression can actually function to suppress emotional pain that has been cut off, denied and stuffed away. Depression is treatable today.

Depression hurts--it hurts you and those who care about you. I have worked in the field of counseling and with depression and sadness for 30 years. My clients come from a variety of backgrounds and ages but have one thing in common--they are depressed. It can leave you feeling helpless and alone. If you have felt this way for some time, it is imperative that you get professional help soon. I have an article on depression on my actual website: www.therapyhelp4you.com . I hope you will read it and give me a call so that I might help you find a way out of this "stuck" feeling and help you regain your life and hope for a different future.

I practice a type of therapy for depression called Team Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) which research has shown to be especially effective with depressive disorders. It was developed by Dr David Burns. Using TEAM CBT, we work together to discover underlying beliefs (which we call cognitive distortions) that are causing or contributing to your depressive symptoms. Once identified, we then use a variety of techniques to help you correct those thinking patterns that are causing you difficulty. We measure progress constantly so that we can try new techniques if needed, to help you feel better.

Not being alone and feeling supported when we are hurting is vital. I am a very active, encouraging, supportive therapist and I give clients homework and exercises to start seeing their power and impact from the start. There is a balance that needs to be found between expression and action. I assist clients in making certain that they are healing and growing.