Depression
Sometimes life is really overwhelming, and we are still able to find our way through hard times. All types of feelings, including sadness, are normal reactions to the struggles we may face on a day to day basis.
But other times, getting through the days or weeks can feel a lot harder than normal. Maybe you’ve been experiencing feelings of heavy sadness or overwhelming hopelessness that last for days, perhaps you’ve even had thoughts of suicide. Depression can look different for almost everyone, and it’s important to seek help from a doctor and qualified therapist if you have been feeling depressive symptoms affecting your life for some time.
You can find a useful list of depression symptoms and a number of resources on depression here.
At Emerald Springs, we can spend time working with depression in a safe and comfortable place. Using interventions that holistically address emotions, thoughts, and behaviours might help you see things in a new light, and learn new skills for coping and distress tolerance. I’m here to sit with you and listen without judgement to your feelings and experiences, so even though it might feel hard, I encourage you to reach out - help is available.
If you’re thinking about suicide, or are worried about a friend or loved one, Call Crisis Services Canada 24/7 at 1-833-456-4566 or Crisis Centre BC 24/7 at 1-800-784-2433.
Trauma
Trauma might be a word that you hear fairly often, and can speak to many different experiences an individual may live through in their lives. Trauma is defined as the lasting emotional response that can result from living through one or more distressing events. The ever-expanding list of physical, emotional, and mental traumas one may experience speak to it’s complex nature and effect on the human condition.
A traumatic experience can have a deep effect on an individual’s ability to cope in daily life. Often it can leave a person with a variety of feelings including helplessness, guilt, powerlessness, anger, and numbness. It may feel difficult or even impossible to regulate emotions, and a lasting sense of fear may continue to occur even when you are in a familiar and safe atmosphere. You might startle easily or experience intrusive memories or nightmares that impact your ability to get through the day or sleep at night.
If you have experienced trauma, you may struggle to ground yourself, to connect with your thoughts and emotions. The first step to working with trauma is creating safety by building trust and understanding where you currently are functioning in your daily life. Then, we begin to learn about how trauma impacts our relationships with ourselves, our bodies, and others. Processing trauma in a safe and contained environment may allow you to rediscover your inner strengths and develop new skills to move forward. Schedule a consultation to find out more about working with trauma today.