Depression therapy
Discovering Light Through Shadow Work and Creative Integration
Depression therapy can help when depression settles into your life like a heavy fog, making you feel as though you're moving through the world behind a veil, present but not fully alive, connected but somehow separate from the vibrancy that once colored your days. I understand this landscape intimately, and I'm here to walk alongside you as you navigate through the shadows toward a more integrated, authentic existence.
Depression therapy in my practice goes beyond managing symptoms to explore the deeper roots of your experience, the parts of you that carry old wounds, the inner voices that echo criticism or despair, and the protective patterns that may have once served you but now keep you feeling disconnected from yourself. Through Internal Family Systems and depth-oriented approaches, I help creative and emotionally curious individuals like you understand the "why" behind your depression, gently befriending the parts that hold your pain and discovering pathways toward lasting integration and wholeness.
Understanding Depression as a Messenger from Within
In my practice, I view depression not as an enemy to be conquered, but as a profound messenger from the depths of your psyche. Often, what we call depression is actually a collection of protective parts within us—parts that have been holding immense pain, carrying unmet needs, or guarding us from overwhelming feelings. Through our work together, we'll gently explore these inner landscapes with curiosity and compassion, understanding that every part of you has a story worth hearing.
Depression can manifest as a creative block, a spiritual crisis, or a profound disconnection from your authentic self. For emotionally curious and creative individuals, this experience often carries additional layers of complexity. You might find yourself questioning not just your mood, but your entire relationship with creativity, meaning, and purpose. The very sensitivity and depth that make you who you are can intensify the experience of depression, creating a paradox where your greatest gifts feel like your heaviest burdens.
My Integrative Approach to Therapy for Depression
My therapeutic approach weaves together Internal Family Systems (IFS), depth-oriented psychotherapy, Emotional Freedom Technique, and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy to create a deeply personalized healing journey. This isn't about following a predetermined script or applying generic techniques. Instead, I craft our sessions around your unique inner world, honoring the complexity of your experience while providing practical tools for transformation.
Internal Family Systems: Meeting Your Inner Parts
Through IFS, we'll discover that depression often involves multiple parts of your psyche in conflict or pain. Perhaps there's a part that feels exhausted from trying to meet impossible standards, another that carries old grief, and yet another that fears what might happen if you truly let yourself feel. Together, we'll create a safe space for these parts to be witnessed, understood, and ultimately integrated into a more harmonious internal system.
I guide you in developing a compassionate relationship with these parts, understanding their protective intentions even when their methods create suffering. This approach transforms the internal battle that often characterizes depression into an opportunity for inner dialogue and healing.
Depth Work: Exploring the Sacred Darkness
Depression often calls us into the depths—those mysterious realms of the psyche where transformation awaits. Through depth-oriented psychotherapy, we'll explore the symbolic language of your depression, understanding it as part of your soul's journey toward wholeness. This work honors the mystical and spiritual dimensions of your experience, recognizing that sometimes we must descend into darkness to discover our own light.
We'll work with dreams, symbols, and the creative imagination to unlock the wisdom hidden within your depression. This isn't about positive thinking or bypassing difficult emotions, but rather about finding meaning and purpose within the depths of your experience.
Creative Expression as Medicine
For creative and intuitive souls, traditional talk therapy alone often feels insufficient. That's why I incorporate expressive arts and creative modalities into our work. Whether through writing, visualization, or other forms of creative expression, we'll find ways for your different parts to speak, be heard, and ultimately integrate.
Between sessions, I provide you with creative prompts and parts therapy exercises designed to deepen your self-exploration. These aren't homework assignments but invitations to continue the conversation with your inner world, allowing insights to emerge organically through your creative process.
What Makes My Therapy for Depression Different
My approach recognizes that you're not new to inner work. You've likely been on a healing path for some time, perhaps working with other therapists or exploring various modalities. What you're seeking now is depth, integration, and a therapeutic relationship that honors your complexity without trying to simplify or fix you.
I create a deshaming, validating space where all parts of you are welcome—the shadows and the light, the creative and the stuck, the hopeful and the despairing. This isn't about cheerleading you out of depression or offering quick fixes. Instead, it's about sitting with you in the depths, holding space for your experience while gently guiding you toward integration and wholeness.
Our work extends far beyond the therapy session. I encourage you to engage with the parts we discuss, to be in conversation with them throughout your week. This ongoing dialogue transforms therapy from a weekly appointment into a living practice of self-discovery and integration.
The Journey of Working Together
When you reach out for a consultation, we'll explore what kind of support you're seeking and what has or hasn't worked for you in the past. This initial conversation gives us both a felt sense of what it might be like to work together. If we decide to proceed, I conduct a comprehensive intake over our first three appointments, exploring the various parts of your experience—family, cultural, social, medical, and mental health history.
Together, we'll identify three to five goals to guide our work, though these remain flexible as your journey unfolds. I typically meet with clients weekly at a scheduled recurring time, creating a consistent container for your healing process. This regularity becomes an anchor in your week, a sacred time devoted entirely to your inner exploration and growth.
Supporting Life Transitions and Languishing
Depression often intensifies during life transitions or periods of languishing in adulthood. Whether you're navigating a creative crisis, relationship changes, career transitions, or existential questions about meaning and purpose, our work together provides a supportive framework for moving through these challenging passages.
I understand that for emotionally complex individuals, these transitions aren't just external changes but profound internal reorganizations. We'll work together to understand how different parts of you respond to change, what they need to feel safe, and how to honor both the grief of what's ending and the uncertainty of what's emerging.
Creating Lasting Transformation
The transformation we work toward isn't about eliminating difficult emotions or achieving a state of perpetual happiness. Instead, it's about developing a more integrated relationship with all aspects of yourself, including those parts that carry depression. Through our work, you'll develop the capacity to hold complexity, to find beauty in the shadows, and to access your creative life force even in difficult times.
This is slow, deep work that honors your pace and respects your process. There's no rushing toward resolution or pressure to feel better on anyone else's timeline. Instead, we create space for genuine transformation to unfold organically, guided by your inner wisdom and supported by therapeutic expertise.
Your Invitation to Begin
If you're feeling called to explore your depression through this integrative, creative lens, I invite you to reach out. Whether you're in Sonoma County, the North Bay Area, Seattle, Washington State, or New York State, my online therapy sessions provide a consistent, sacred space for your healing journey.
This work is for those who are ready to go deeper, who understand that true healing requires patience, creativity, and a willingness to meet all parts of yourself with compassion. It's for those who see their sensitivity not as a weakness but as a gateway to profound transformation.
Your depression doesn't define you, but understanding its message can transform you. Together, we'll create a therapeutic journey that honors your complexity, supports your creativity, and guides you toward a more integrated, authentic life. Reach out today to schedule your consultation and discover how this deeply personalized approach to Therapy for Depression can support your unique healing path.
Located in:
Sonoma County, CA
Seattle, WA
New York
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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Depression therapy is a therapeutic process where we explore the deeper roots of your depression rather than simply managing symptoms. In my practice, I use Internal Family Systems (IFS), depth-oriented psychotherapy, and other integrative approaches to help you understand the parts of yourself that carry pain, sadness, or disconnection. Together, we'll gently befriend these parts and discover what they're trying to protect you from, creating pathways toward lasting integration and a more vibrant inner life.
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My approach to depression therapy goes beyond surface-level coping strategies to explore the "why" behind your experience. I work with creative and emotionally curious individuals who want to understand their inner world through parts work and shadow integration. Rather than treating depression as something to eliminate, we'll explore it as a messenger, listening to what your system is trying to communicate. This depth-oriented approach often resonates with sensitive souls who've tried traditional therapy but are seeking something more transformative and personally meaningful.
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During our sessions, you can expect a compassionate, deeply curious space where all parts of you are welcome. I'll help you explore the inner voices, protective patterns, and wounded parts that contribute to your depression. Between sessions, I often provide parts therapy prompts for reflection, journaling, or creative expression so our work extends beyond the therapy room. We'll work together to identify three to five goals that guide our journey, and I encourage weekly sessions when possible to build momentum and deepen our work together.
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The timeline for depression therapy is deeply personal and depends on your unique needs, goals, and inner landscape. Some clients find significant relief within a few months, while others engage in longer-term work to address complex patterns and achieve lasting integration. During our initial consultation and intake process, we'll discuss what you're looking for and create a framework that honors your pace. My focus is on sustainable, meaningful change rather than quick fixes, allowing your healing to unfold organically.
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I do not prescribe or manage medication in my practice. My work focuses on therapeutic approaches like Internal Family Systems, Emotional Freedom Technique, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and depth-oriented psychotherapy. If you're currently taking medication or considering it, I'm happy to collaborate as part of your broader care team, but the medication aspect would be managed by your prescribing provider.
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Absolutely. Many of my clients have previous therapy experience and are seeking a deeper, more integrative approach. If traditional talk therapy felt too surface-level or didn't address the root patterns contributing to your depression, the parts work and depth-oriented methods I use may offer the breakthrough you've been seeking. During our consultation, we'll discuss what has and hasn't worked for you in the past so I can tailor our approach to meet you where you are now.
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You might be a good fit if you're an emotionally curious, creative individual in your 20s, 30s, or 40s who wants to understand the deeper meaning behind your depression. My ideal clients are drawn to parts work, shadow exploration, and self-expression as forms of healing. They appreciate poetic, spiritually-oriented language and seek therapy that feels sacred and authentic rather than clinical. If you're looking for more than symptom management and want to integrate different parts of yourself into a harmonious whole, we may be well-matched.
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Depression often feels like more than a difficult moment. It's a persistent heaviness, a fog that colors everything gray, or a disconnection from the vibrancy that once filled your days. You might notice changes in sleep, energy, or interest in things that once brought joy. During our consultation, we'll explore your experience together without rushing to labels. What matters most is understanding what you're carrying and why, creating space for all the parts of you that are struggling to be heard and understood.
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During our initial consultation, we'll discuss what kind of help you're seeking, what you've already tried, and get a felt sense of what it's like to work together. If we decide to move forward, I conduct an intake assessment over the first three sessions, exploring different aspects of your life including family, cultural, social, medical, and mental health history. This helps me understand the full context of your depression. After intake, we'll identify three to five goals to guide our work, creating a roadmap that feels meaningful and achievable for you.
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I invite you to reach out directly for information about pricing and scheduling. My practice operates on a private pay basis, and I'm happy to discuss investment details during our initial consultation. To get started, simply contact me through my website to schedule a consultation where we can explore whether we're a good fit and discuss the practical details of working together. I look forward to connecting with you.