Working With Depression
Depression doesn’t always look like sadness.
Often, depression looks like numbness, simply going through the motions, or feeling completely disconnected from your own life—wondering why nothing feels meaningful or engaging anymore.
Sometimes it manifests as irritability, or a heavy physical exhaustion that sleep cannot fix. Other times, it shows up as a quiet internal voice telling you that things will always be this way and that trying is useless. From the outside, you might seem perfectly fine, carrying it all silently.
Whatever your experience looks like, you deserve to be met with warmth and dedicated support.
What Depression Can Feel Like
Depression is a complex, systemic experience that affects how we think, feel, and exist in our bodies:
- Emptiness & numbness: Feeling “flat,” detached, or unable to access joy and enthusiasm.
- Loss of interest: The things, hobbies, or relationships that used to bring pleasure now feel like effort.
- Persistent exhaustion: Feeling physically heavy and drained of energy, even after a full night’s rest.
- Cognitive fog: Finding it incredibly difficult to concentrate, read, make simple decisions, or find motivation.
- Relational withdrawal: Quieting your social life and pulling away from the people you care about because you feel like a “burden.”
- Deep self-criticism: A harsh inner critic that blames you for feeling this way, feeding a cycle of shame.
- Hopelessness: A heavy sense that the future is bleak and that nothing you do will make a difference.
If you are having thoughts of suicide, self-harm or are in crisis, please know you are not alone and reach out for immediate, confidential support by calling or texting the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
How I Work With Depression
Depression is not a character flaw. It is not laziness, weakness, or ingratitude. It is a very real, painful state with deep roots: in our biology, our personal history, our relational experiences, our losses, and the way the world has treated us.
My approach to depression is relational, somatic, and deeply respectful. Rather than rushing to immediately “fix” or suppress the heavy feelings. We sit with what is actually present; the numbness, the grief, or the exhaustion with gentle curiosity.
Together, we work to:
- Understand what your depression is about: What it is trying to protect you from, what it is expressing, and what unmet needs lie beneath the surface.
- Gently re-engage the body: Moving slowly to release physical heaviness and build safety inside your own skin.
- Cultivate self-compassion: Learning to meet your depressed states with kindness rather than frustration or self-punishment.
- Build tiny, compounding conditions for shift: Small, manageable movements toward connection and meaning that gradually restore vitality over time.
I draw on attachment theory, somatic awareness, relational depth therapy, trauma and parts-based work (IFS/TIST) to help you feel met, understood, and no longer alone in the dark.
If this sounds familiar, reach out for a free consultation.