Depression Counselling in Unionville, ON.

Struggling with mood disorders can make life very challenging. The most basic tasks can feel overwhelming and unmanageable. I understand this from personal experience as well as years of work with clients who are diagnosed with depression or bipolar disorder. It can be difficult to explain to others in our lives what it feels like to live with depression. I will validate and support you while helping you explore your feelings and find positive coping strategies that are the right fit for you. Book a free consultation to see if we are a good fit.

Depression is typically an outcome of a current or past life event, or both. It might be due to grief or a recent disappointment. Depending on what we explore together to be the cause, we will work with action plans and strategies to set your life area in the direction that you want to improve. Further, if there are issues from your past, which is frequently the case, we will identify these upsets, identify schemas that you have formulated that impact how you think, feel, and behave, and we will work to improve your mood. Further, we may work through various worksheets and processes to understand what your thoughts and behaviors are and how these are helping or hurting your mood.

Depression affects more than just your mood — it can drain your energy, diminish self-esteem, disrupt relationships, and make life feel hopeless. You don’t have to face it alone. Together, we’ll explore the root causes of your depression, such as loss, stress, or unconscious patterns, and work toward healing, self-acceptance, and restoring a sense of meaning and vitality in your life.

Managing depression is easier when you use positive coping strategies. Talking about and addressing your thoughts and emotions realistically helps to break the downward spiral of depressed mood. Together, we will work to change the patterns of behaviors and thoughts that keep you depressed, and move towards a more active and fulfilling life. The heavy cloak of depression can be lifted and you can live again.

I would begin by establishing a non-judgmental, empathetic, and supportive therapeutic relationship. This foundation empowers the client to explore their experiences at their own pace. Using CBT, I would help you identify and challenge negative thought patterns and behaviors contributing to depression, promoting more balanced thinking and adaptive coping strategies. Through Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, I would support you in accepting difficult emotions without judgment, clarifying personal values, and committing to meaningful actions that align with those values. Together, these approaches foster self-awareness, emotional resilience, and behavioral changes.

Depression comes in varried degrees. Severe depression can be extremely debilitating, and can cause one to feel utterly hopeless. Depression can manifest itself biologically, and it can also be situational. Regardless of the kind of depression one may be experiencing, there is hope. One must remember that our psychology can affect our biology. Furthermore, our relational context has a direct impact on our ability to cope. There is no quick fix to depression, but help is here.

Many years ago depression was called melancholia and was not considered so negatively as it is in our current "performance" focused culture. We are expected to be "up" continuously in today's busy life-styles, with work, children, relationships, and even in our playtime. The result of this sort of expectation can be debilitating and certainly can lead to long bouts of feeling out of control, unfulfilled, unmotivated and ultimately immobilized. Depression can certainly be dealt with through very effective therapeutic techniques. I work with clients to better understand the root cause of their sadness and help them to look at the possible meaning behind their depression and how to best cope.

Talk therapy is the hope of many individuals struggling with mental health. After clients acquired enough awareness of self and insights about their past, they commit to engage in different practices and perspectives, expecting to complete the healing process. However, research has shown that more often than not – a single approach is just not enough. Trauma and other adverse experiences affect the brain deeply in many regions. There are many brain structures affected, with neuro-networks firing and wiring together, communicating in millions of patterns, most often by the fear-driven brain. The survival mechanism in your brain creates a fear-based reality that interferes with life.

Counselling for depression at Neurodiversity Aware Therapy focuses on understanding patterns of thinking, behaviour, and withdrawal that can contribute to low mood, loss of motivation, or feeling stuck. Using a collaborative, structured approach, therapy helps clients examine self-defeating beliefs, rebuild routine and meaning, and develop practical strategies that support engagement and hope. The goal of this approach is to improve mood, increase agency, and support sustainable change that fits each client’s life and values.

Depression can seriously impair one's ability to function in activities of daily living. The prospects of recovery from depression are very good with professional support. In my practice, I support individuals and families affected by depression through cognitive behaviour therapy, psychoeducation and solution focused approaches.

The combination of schema therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is an effective approach to dealing with depression. The CBT aspect of the therapy provides insight into HOW depression affects our lives. The schema portion of the therapy addresses the question of WHY depression exists in our lives. The therapy is comprehensive and intense and I encourage you to give it a try.

When working with clients struggling with depression, I offer a compassionate and personalized approach that blends evidence-based therapies with genuine human connection. Depression can feel like a fog that dims your energy, motivation, and hope—but you don’t have to navigate it alone. Together, we’ll explore the underlying patterns that contribute to your low mood and disconnection, while building practical tools to help you find relief and regain a sense of purpose. I draw from Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and mindfulness strategies to help you manage difficult emotions and various challenges.

Experiencing depressive symptoms, low mood, low affect, low-ness is hard. Using psychodynamics and person-centered, strengths based therapies, I strive to aid clients in understanding the patterns of these symptoms so we can, collaboratively work together to process these feelings and devise ways that work for you to regulate and improve mood over time.