Depression Counselling
Depression is pervasive and affects millions of individuals worldwide. You might be feeling persistently sad and hopeless. Or you notice a loss of interest in personal and/or social activities that you once enjoyed. When left to its own devices, depression can significantly impact all aspects of your life: your important relationships, your work as a professional, your studies as a student, your overall well being. Counselling for depression offers a supportive and therapeutic space. In counsselling you can explore that side of you that feels abandoned or exiled. You can also gain an understanding of your emotions in specific situations. It’s from this place that you’ll be able to start developing your way of attending to your emotions and/or sense of hopelessness that won’t go away.
Steps for healing from depression
Assessment
First, we’ll talk about your specific symptoms to understand the severity of your depression. After that, we’ll take a look at the impact it’s having on your daily functioning. Then together we’ll establish your goals for counselling that will guide us through our sessions. Your goals will take into account your individual needs and aspirations.
The therapy room - creating a safe place
It is important that you experience a non-judgemental, private, confidential and empathic space in therapy. In this space, you’ll be able to express your thoughts, emotions, and concerns freely and openly. So if something doesn’t feel right between us in the therapeutic relationship, we’ll work together to rectify that. Thus, we’ll continuously create optimum therapeutic conditions for your healing to take place in.
Your coping strategies
We will discuss your current ways of coping to see which are helpful and which are not. Many ways of coping (relaxation exercises, problem solving, self-care practices, healthy lifestyle choices, exercise, creativity) are fundamental to functioning well in daily life. However, sometimes these are not enough especially when something in you is struggling. As a result, living with a deep-seated sadness or a sense of hopelessness can be overwhelming and debilitating. We will therefore gently and with sensitivity bring to light some internal tendencies of yours that lead you to self blame, self judge, and self sabotage. Such tendencies may be rooted in shame. So, we’ll work towards change including lifting your depressive symptoms and improving your overall well being.
Attending to underlying issues and trauma
Your feelings of depression in your life circumstance may be rooted in underlying issues or unresolved trauma from the past. Thus, I’ll help you explore and process these underlying factors. Using emotion-focused and focusing-oriented therapies, we’ll then work to identify and change your response patterns in a sensitive, trauma-informed way.
Follow-up
Finally, as you progress through counselling for depression, I will be reviewing you progress periodically and watching for early possible signs of relapse. Because of this, we may schedule monthly or quarterly follow-up sessions that aim to provide continued support for setbacks or new challenges that may arise.
It is important to note that this step-by-step plan is a general framework for depression counseling and may be adapted and personalised based on the your specific needs and goals. My expertise and the your active participation in the therapeutic process are crucial for achieving positive outcomes in depression counseling. Through counseling, you can develop the necessary skills and support to overcome depression, improve your well-being, and regain a sense of joy and fulfillment in your life.
Please contact me to schedule a free initial consultation
+61 404 529 704
karen.thomas@HummingbirdTherapy.org
In-Person, Phone &/or Telehealth sessions
If you need immediate help:
In case you need immediate help: