Therapy for Depression

Honestly, sometimes it’s hard to tell.

A crappy week, breakup, stressful season or general hatred of February doesn’t necessarily mean you’re depressed. But when feeling low starts sticking around, you’re losing interest in things you normally care about, everything feels like WAY more work than it should, or you can’t really remember the last time you felt like yourself, it’s probably worth talking about.

And no, you don’t need to determine whether you’re “actually depressed” before you come to therapy. You can literally start with, “I don’t know what’s wrong, I just feel like shit lately.” We can work with that.

No. Not even a little bit.

You don’t need a diagnosis, doctor’s referral or official permission slip to start therapy for depression.

Our individual therapy sessions range from $130 to $180 for a 50-minute session, depending on the therapist you choose.

Don’t have benefits? Crappy benefits? Used them all up by April? We also have affordable and low-cost counselling options for people with little or no insurance coverage.

Money is a very real part of accessing therapy. We’d rather help you find an option you can actually afford than pretend otherwise.

Maybe. And we realize that’s an incredibly irritating answer.

Many extended health plans in Ontario cover sessions with a Registered Psychotherapist (RP), Registered Social Worker (RSW), or both. The catch is that your insurance company gets to decide who and how much they cover.

Before you book, look for “psychotherapy,” “psychological services” or “social work” in your benefits. Better yet, call them and ask exactly which professional designations are covered.

Please do this before your first appointment. Finding out afterward that your plan covers an RSW but you booked an RP is the kind of character development nobody asked for.

Private depression therapy at Rebound is not covered by OHIP.

There are publicly funded mental health services available in Ontario, and private therapy may also be partially or fully reimbursed through workplace or extended health benefits.

If neither applies to you, check out our affordable counselling options. Therapy shouldn’t automatically be off the table because your benefits package is basically three massages and a prayer.

Could be a few months. Could be longer. There isn’t a standard number of sessions for depression.

Someone dealing with a depressive episode after a brutal year may need something very different from someone who’s been saying “I’ve kind of always felt like this” since they were 16.

We care a lot less about hitting some magical number of appointments and a lot more about whether therapy is actually doing something. Are you getting out of bed more easily? Seeing your friends again? Showering before 4 p.m.? Enjoying things? Feeling hopeful? Handling the bad days differently?

That’s the stuff we’re watching.

Your first session is a little different from regular therapy sessions because we have some detective work to do first.

We’ll ask lots of questions and get to know you, what’s been going on, what brought you to therapy, what depression actually looks like in your life, and anything else that might help us understand the bigger picture.

You don’t need to know exactly what’s wrong or show up with a perfectly articulated list of goals. That’s part of what the first session is for.

Once we understand what you’re dealing with, we can actually make a game plan instead of throwing random coping skills at you and hoping something sticks.

Ohhhh yes.

There’s a version of depression that doesn’t necessarily look like lying in bed all day. Sometimes it looks like going to work, answering emails, making everyone laugh, taking care of your family and checking every box you’re supposed to check.

And then you get home and you’re completely empty.

Functioning isn’t the same thing as feeling good. You don’t need to wait until you can’t get out of bed to decide this deserves attention.

Yep.

And when you’re depressed, removing the whole get dressed → get in car → drive somewhere → interact with civilization sequence can be genuinely helpful.

If virtual therapy makes it easier for you to consistently show up, great. If you desperately need to get out of your house and want to sit across from an actual human, also great.

We offer in-person depression therapy in Dundas and virtual appointments, so this one really comes down to what works better for you.

Please don’t pick someone solely because their headshot looks nice.

Look for a therapist who actually works with depression and whose approach makes sense for you. Maybe you want someone practical who will help you change the patterns keeping you stuck. Maybe there is trauma underneath everything. Maybe you need someone warm and gentle. Maybe warm and gentle makes you want to crawl out of your skin and you’d much rather have someone who calls you on your crap.

That’s why we offer a free 15-minute consultation instead of making you play Therapist Tinder through 40 bios.

Tell us what’s going on. Tell us what you want help with. Tell us what kind of personality you click with.

We’ll help you narrow it down.