Depression Counselling in Shawnigan Lake, BC.

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.

Depression is a mood disorder that can cause a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest that can interfere with daily functioning. Reaching out for help is a step towards wellness. Symptoms of depression can vary from person to person, but it is a very treatable condition. Therapy for depression helps you overcome the feelings of hopelessness and despair and to gain control of your life.

Depression includes low mood, feelings of sadness or hopelessness, diminished interest in activities, fatigue, change in appetite or sleeping behaviour, diminished ability to concentrate, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, and suicidal ideation. These symptoms cause impairment in an individuals’ social, occupational, or other areas. Therapy for depression typically involves cognitive-behavioural therapy, where thoughts, feelings, and beliefs are investigated, cognitive-restructuring, and learning new skills and coping strategies. At the outcome of therapy, individuals can experience more energy and joy, greater peace, clarity, connectedness, self worth, hope, and improved functioning.

In therapy with Molly, you'll find a compassionate, non-judgmental space where you can explore the roots of depression and develop strategies to manage it. Molly combines evidence-based approaches like CBT, Attachment-Based Therapy, Internal Family Systems Therapy, and EMDR to support you in breaking unhelpful thought patterns and regaining a sense of hope and purpose.

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.

Are you looking for therapeutic help in learning about cognitive strategies for managing depression? Are you wanting a compassionate space to reflect and gain deeper insights into your experience with depression? Are you wanting time for deeper spiritual exploration into your experience with depression? Depression is often complex and does not respond to a "one strategy fits all" approach. Together, we will develop an approach that involves a combination of clinically sound methods that meets your needs in helping you to cope with the daily challenges of living with depression.

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.

Depression can be experienced in a magnitude of ways and is often experienced differently by each individual. Symptoms may range from feeling increasingly irritable, experiencing a sense of emptiness and hopelessness, and an individual often will feel completely overwhelmed, losing interest in activities they once enjoyed. Depression may also be experienced physically. Physical symptoms may include, but are not limited to a lack of energy, problems sleeping, pronounced weight changes, and eventually, even serious illness. In cases of mild to moderate depression, there is an increasing amount of research supporting counselling as effective as medication in improving a person’s mood. Many clients have been referred to counselling by their family doctor when...(view profile to read more)

Clients have talked about being down there in ‘the pit’, not being able to see any light, only darkness with no path. You are doing less and less, you are losing motivation to connect with others, or even get out of bed. Using behavioural activation, where we listen to or thoughts instead of our feelings, we can pull ourselves out of the downward spiral of depression. Sometimes that means treating trauma too. With help, imagine someone throws down some tools and materials, we make a plan to build a ladder, and with support and encouragement, you get yourself out of that pit. I know there's a path and I have helped others find it.

Dr. Sloat's therapeutic approach* to treating depression stems from her belief that depression is best treated while a person is feeling well. Although she acknowledges that depression should also be treated while acute, she also recognizes that depression tends to be episodic for long term sufferers, and the best way to long term success is to create tools and strategies while well that inoculate against further episodes. In short, Dr. Sloat describes her approach as "Depression Management". *Approach includes CBT, i.e., Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Nothing can zap joy from life as quickly and devastatingly as depression can. I will help you move through the fog of depression to understand how our perceptions affect our mood and reality and how to shift to a place where we have more control over our reactions, our beliefs and feelings, and ultimately our behaviours. Understanding why we find ourselves in the place we do is important but it is not useful if we don't also develop the skills to move out of harmful and damaging places.

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).