Counselling for Depression
We all can experience sadness or low mood sometimes, but when you descend into depression, the level of misery can feel overwhelming.
It can feel like being locked away in a prison. You may feel frightened, alone, miserable, and powerless, you find yourself withdrawing from everyone because you don’t want to be a burden.
Depression is a very personal experience, and different for everyone. I know it can be incredibly difficult to express how you are feeling but also feel understood by those around you.
Here are some examples of the changes that I’ve seen in my practice when working with depression:
- a client reduced their reliance on their anti-depressants
- a client developed healthier coping strategies and learnt new tools to manage their long term depression
- a client found true benefit of how spending time outdoors enjoying nature helped their depression (through experiencing outdoor therapy)
It’s important to remember, you are not alone. I provide a safe, compassionate space to gently explore together with patience and understanding, ways in helping guide you back to wellness, one step at a time. We will look at tools and techniques that can help you.
So, if you are ready to take the first small step please get in touch.
How can counselling help?
1-1 therapy can help you talk about your depression in a safe, supportive environment. You will be given time to talk, cry shout or just think and encouraged to look at your difficulties in a different way with someone who will respect your opinions without judgement.
Being able explore your thoughts, feelings and emotions and talk through how depression affects you personally can be the first tentative step in helping you understand your depression and learn how to bring some relief from your symptoms and increase your mental health and wellbeing.
My approach is work alongside you, in a compassionate and empathetic way to truly understand how your depression affects you day to day and work with you to build your own personal toolkit to help you manage your symptoms.
I have a wide range of tried and tested solutions to help give some relief to depressive symptoms to help you begin the process of lifting your depression for good.
Often just being able to talk to someone can be so incredibly helpful as you can start the process of beginning to understand your thoughts which have quite possibly been so overwhelming for you.
Some of my clients describe depression like a fog, they just can’t see past the negative thoughts which exhausts them daily.
Therapy is tailored to your needs and often through our sessions you find your own solutions, and that’s great! Regular reviews during our sessions together will help ensure we are meeting your goals. The number of sessions required to help depression does vary – I recommend 6-8 initial sessions, ideally spaced weekly apart to start to put into place some simple changes to bring some relief to your symptoms, thereafter bi-weekly or monthly sessions for as long as you feel you need them.
It is important to get a diagnosis from a GP before seeking therapy as they will be able to advise the type of depression that you have. You may be prescribed medication to help with the symptoms and it is really important to follow the guidance of your GP in taking the medication and have regular check-ins.
More information on my approach can be found here.
Stony Stratford (Milton Keynes) practice: for counselling and psychotherapy near Bletchley, Central Milton Keynes, Deanshanger, Yardley Gobion, Wolverton, Pottersbury, Towcester, Buckingham, Bicester, Calverton, Stantonbury, Kiln Farm, Shenley (Brook End, Church End & Lodge), Winslow and Newport Pagnell.