Anxiety and depression disorders can affect anyone at any age, and they are the most common mental health issues in Canada. Sometimes they are triggered by a specific event or stressful life experience. That’s why Chigamik is now offering members of the community an effective form of counselling for anxiety and depression called cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT). CBT teaches you how your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours work together. A goal of CBT is to identify and change the unhelpful patterns of thinking that feed negative thoughts. CBT can help you identify problem behaviours and replace them with helpful strategies.
Take a look at what a recent client had to say about her experience with Chigamik’s CBT therapy:
“I was depressed since I was 19 years old. I spent most of my life dealing with psychologists and counsellors trying to help me cope with my depression. I was diagnosed with Bipolar II Disorder, characterized by depression. I also suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) during the winter months.
I came to Chigamik at the beginning of November 2017 to see my primary care physician to talk about how to cope with SAD. He recommended I try CBT at Chigamik. Although I was taking medication to help deal with my depression, it wasn’t enough. I needed to learn some tools and coping skills on how to deal with anxiety and depression, especially in certain situations or times of the year when I suffered the most.
That’s when I met a CBT therapist at Chigamik. The program was like nothing I had ever done before. The focus was on therapy but it also provided me with concrete tools to use in everyday life to help manage my depression. My therapist introduced me to the “thought record,” that allows me to label my different moods and determine what is “feeding” my mood. I now use the “thought record” on days that I’m feeling down. It really helps me stay in the moment and understand myself.
After ten sessions, my therapist and I decided I was doing much better and was ready to move forward. I remember him saying to me, “If at any point you feel yourself slipping, please call me and we will figure it out together.”
Chigamik is a very special place. It’s a great model for how health clinics should be run in this country. I am so thankful to have Chigamik and the CBT program so close to home.”
~CBT Client at Chigamik
