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.

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.

No two people are affected in the same way by depression. Therefore, we use a blended approach -cognitive behavioural therapy, interpersonal therapy and psychodynamic therapy - with clients who present depressive symptoms. Areas of focus include, but are not limited to, reframing negative thinking, understanding the client's problematic relationships that cause depression, and mindfulness.

Depression can be a debilitating mental health issue, but the good news is there are excellent therapies out there designed to help treat it! Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has been shown to be one of the most effective treatments in helping with depression. CBT is a shorter term and skills-based therapy intended to help individuals learn strategies to better manage their mood and improve the quality of their life. I'd be happy to discuss more about CBT for depression with you!

Depression can be experienced in a multitude of ways and often differently by each person. Depression can leave an individual feeling overwhelmed, a loss interested in activities that they used to enjoy, feel a lack of energy, have difficulty sleeping, experienced pronounced weight changes, and even serious illness. You do not have to suffer or feel alone. We will work with you to uncover the elements to your depression and help you to regain enjoyment and satisfaction in your 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 is often associated with negative beliefs about oneself and the world, and EMDR can help to desensitize and reprocess these negative beliefs, leading to a more adaptive and positive worldview. Through the use of bilateral stimulation, such as eye movements or tapping, EMDR can help to process the distressing memories and beliefs, reducing the intensity of the emotional response and increasing emotional resilience. By addressing the underlying negative beliefs, EMDR can help to alleviate symptoms of depression and improve overall mood and well-being.

My approach is to work with you to understand all of the many layers of your life which may have caused your depression. Then we can collaboratively develop a plan for getting better, one step at a time. I use therapies such as CBT, ACT, and EMDR as needed to speed your recovery in collaboration with you. Most important is our therapeutic relationship and connection for change you can count on.

To provide psychoeducation with depressive symptoms and how this will not only affect their mood, but also their own body's response. The mind and body connection will be pivotal. To explore the root cause of their depression and provide coping strategies that will be enable the client to live a good quality of life. Talk therapy with the incorporation of CBT, DBT, and SFBT.