I believe transparency in the treatment process directly contributes to positive treatment outcomes. As such, you can expect me to demystify the the therapeutic process. This means psychoeducation and bibliotherapy are embedded in every treatment plan.
I am trained in multiple modalities, therefore you can anticipate that we will approach healing in more than one way. In the process, we will discover which approach(s) best suits your personality and clinical needs. As a trauma specialist, I know "the body keeps the score", therefore I promote a holistic approach to healing; this means addressing the mind, body, and soul. The treatment process is collaborative, so you will always have choice about how (fast, slow, etc.) we proceed, so speak up - I'm listening.
Depression is tricky, because your mood, cognition, and energy vacillates day by day. In my practice, I treat depression in the following way:
- Psychoeducation
- Bibliotherapy
- Track your mood
- Awareness of your thought pattern
- Monitor your energy level
- Track your sleep
- Journalling and Story Telling
- Help developing a behavioural activation plan
- Set small achievable goals
- Re-engaging in activities that are enjoyable
- Model Self-compassion
- Practice do daily check-ins
- Explore cognitive distortions and self-doubt
- Behavioural experiments
- Explore difficult emotions and
- Challenge feelings like sadness and loneliness
- Deep emotional processing (trauma)
Depression therapy is not easy. Shifting your relationship with depression often takes time, hard work, sweat, and yes - tears. It’s gruelling work to rebuild a strong foundation, but I think you will find the results are worth it. And remember, you don’t have to do the heavy lifting all by yourself anymore.
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If you are on pharmacotherapy, we can co-ordinate sessions to support medication changes. I am open to consulting with your PCP (GP or psychiatrist).
