We understand the doubt you are experiencing and the concern you may have about whether counselling will be worth the emotional, financial, and time investments that will be required from you. Many people are concerned about these and they arrive for their initial session with similar worries and fear that counselling won’t actually be effective, or that it will be embarrassing, stressful, or shameful.

In our experience, however, counselling does work and many of our clients leave stating they were glad they came, even though they were doubtful or nervous before they arrived. We have many clients stating that after they began treatment, they were finally able to experience some sense of calm and hope again and even reconnect with an old part of themselves that they thought they had lost.

We have personally seen people walk into our office convinced that their lives will never improve, and then watch them regain hope and learn the skills needed to begin living life more fully and with less pain (This is why we love our jobs!). This did not always mean that their “problems” went away, but rather, they learned a new way to perceive and respond to their “problems;” which allowed them to experience their “problems” differently and no longer be overburdened by them.

On both a professional and a personal level, the PsychSolutions team strongly believes that therapists need to “earn” their way into the chair of the therapist, not only by obtaining the required education and licensure, but also by obtaining their own therapy and sitting in the chair of a client.

We cannot pretend that we have experienced everything you have or that we can personally relate to what you are going through. In spite of that, however, we do know what it feels like to be a client, what it feels like to have to face some difficult hard truths, what it feels like to have to stretch ourselves to learn new skills, and what it feels like to grow from these supported experiences and to become more at ease with our lives and who we are.

From our personal experience of receiving therapy and from our professional experience in providing therapy, we know that therapy can and does work.

Yes, family history is one of the risk factors associated with depression. However, two newer areas of research provide new insights into how our brains can change and evolve, and thus not be doomed to function how our genes would predict.

These two areas of research are:

1. Epigenetics
2. Neuroplasticity.

Epigenetics - Epigenetics is a fancy sounding and somewhat intimidating word, but it basically just refers to a line of research that looks at how our experiences can shape or alter how our genes are expressed (aka: their phenotypes).

In everyday language, what this means is that through epigenetics, we now know that we can change how our genes are expressed (not the DNA code itself, but how the genes are ‘expressed’) by changing our lifestyles, habits, diet, daily activities, and thought patterns.

This may seem like a tall order, but think about it. If you can learn how to change your thoughts, which will lead to you changing your behaviors, then you don’t HAVE to end up like your _____________ (pick the name of any family member(s) that you know who struggled in life.

Neuroplasticity - Through research on neuroplasticity, we now know that the brain continues to develop and create neural pathways and connections throughout our lifespan. Like epigenetics, neuroplasticity has also taught us that by changing our lifestyles and thought patterns, by focusing our attention and energy on things that benefit us and improve our health, we can change how our brain’s neural pathways are organized and thus, how our brain functions.

As you learn new tools for handling the stressors of life and for relating to these experiences differently, and then begin to practice these new tools, your brain will begin to develop new neural pathways and new neural connections; thus changing your brain and getting it to work in new and more beneficial ways. With time and practice, you can begin to create a new you, a new way of being and experiencing life. By practicing new skills, you can change how your brain functions, which can change how you live and experience life. Our brain is shaped by our environment and our actions.

Although this may at first appear scary, this knowledge can actually be quite empowering. By changing our environment (or how we relate or experience it) and our actions, we can begin to change how our brain functions. We can begin to create new pathways, pathways that can become more accessible and “automatic,” and use these to replace our old pathways or our old way of being and experiencing life.

There is so much more potential than what researchers originally believed about the brain. With the right tools, this potential can be harnessed and used to your advantage.

[If the topic of neuroplasticity interests you, you can read a book by Dr. Doidge, a Canadian psychiatrist, called “The brain the changes itself” (2007). http://www.normandoidge.com/normandoidge/MAIN.html).]

These two new areas of research are very empowering. They provide scientifically-based hope that by learning the right skills and tools, we can improve our state of mind, our health, and our life satisfaction. Even if right now, you FEEL like there is no hope, the research, the science, would state otherwise. There is hope! There is the possibility for you to learn how to feel better and to be better.

Often, when people are asking this question, it’s because they can no longer see any other viable options to end their pain. It is as though their perspective, their ability to see “the bigger picture” has slowly closed in on them, like a paper rolling up into a small tunnel, and the only solution now visible to them is at the end of the tunnel…suicide!

It’s not that other viable solutions are no longer available or possible, however, but the depression and perspective have closed in to the point that the person now only has what I call “tunnel vision.”

They can only see down to the end of the tunnel. They can no longer see all the options that are surrounding the outside of that tunnel and which are out of their tunnel vision viewpoint.

Ask yourself a very serious question. Let your heart speak without letting your head and all its objections get in the way.

Here is the question:

Do you really want to be six-feet under or do you just want the pain gone?

Pause…and seriously think about this question...

If the pain could lessen or even go away, if you had the tools to do this and the support you needed, would suicide still be a consideration for you? Do you really want to be dead or do you just want the pain to end?

Many of the clients we have worked with have stated that suicide only became an option for them when they could no longer see any other way of ending the pain.

We have supported clients out of this dark place and back into living life again and we can also help you. Although we cannot end the pain you are experiencing immediately, we can teach you the tools that will help you to begin easing this pain and move towards living your life.

We cannot give you a magic pill to end the pain, but we can teach you the skills.

This can be hard to know until you have actually met with one of our team members. Begin by reading the background information on our current team members. Then read some more of the content and articles we have on the website and view some of the videos we currently have available. This will give you a good idea about how we work and our style.

You can also book a No Cost Consultation so you can meet with one of our therapists prior to booking an appointment. Once you meet (by video or telephone), it will be easier for you to tell if you will be a good match for each other. If you are not a good match for each other, then we can help you to connect with a different team member, colleague, or community resource that may be a better match for you.