I find that few things can take away a person’s quality of life like depression. It can make it difficult to concentrate, function in life or at work, focus, etc. It is typical to go into a room in the house and have no idea what you went in there for in the first place! The general routine of a day can seem so tedious as to be pointless. Having quality relationships seems at best exhausting and hopeless at worst. Depression can be disruptive of sleep patterns and prevent you from nourishing your body well. In short, it’s a crisis that can feel absolutely insurmountable. But there’s hope!
I understand depression from both a personal and a professional level. I know how depression can shut us down, how people around us often can’t understand why we can’t just snap out of it, how hopeless life can seem, how isolation appears to be the only refuge, and how difficult it is to function in relationships. I also know the benefit of walking through the steps of healing and am passionate about helping others in that journey. It is awe-inspiring to see someone who has come to me struggling with the hopelessness of depression (often suicidal) leave my office weeks later with hope and purpose!
My goal, through depression counseling, is to help my clients learn to identify the ways they have dealt with negative situations that would lead them into depression. I look to help clients understand how and why they behave in relationships, the effects of hurts, losses, rejections, and disappointments throughout their life, how they handle anger, the unhealthy messages they may be hearing or telling themselves, how they handle conflict, etc. By developing new ways to assess and handle these areas of life, the outcome can be drastically life-changing! My goal is also to give them tools to help them when difficult situations happen in the future.