we offer online counselling services for midlife challenges throughout BC.

Constant anxiety, depression, overthinking, or worry can be exhausting, but more importantly, it can be confusing.

You may wonder why you’re unable to shake it even though there doesn’t seem to be any immediate reason for feeling this way.

Or you may wonder if the emotional overwhelm is you, or your outside circumstances, or both.

Anxiety and/or depression can show up as a variety of symptoms such as nausea, social anxiety, unpredictable or uncontrollable emotions, feeling helpless or hopeless, low motivation or loss of interest in things you used to enjoy.

During counselling, you can learn tools and strategies to manage the uncomfortable symptoms. At the same time, you’ll have the opportunity to explore the deeper questions that often underlie the anxiety and/or depression that may need to be addressed. For example,

What expectations do I have of myself and/or others?

What am I afraid might happen?

What do I actually care about? What do I value?

What is a part of my life that feels uncontrollable to me?

Know that it doesn’t have to be like this forever, and that you don’t have to get through it alone.

With support and the right tools, you can have a better understanding of yourself and start feeling that you have more control of your moods and improve your day to day life.

It isn’t easy to untangle the reasons why it’s so difficult to get a handle on burnout and stress.

On the surface, we know that work, family, and other immediate responsibilities can cause overwhelm. But we can’t exactly just disconnect or switch these things off right away. So many who are experiencing severe burnout or stress end up feeling stuck.

Burnout and stress counselling can help you gain a deeper understanding of yourself and the patterns and circumstances that might be keeping you stuck. For example, some questions that might come up in counselling are:

What are the pressures I’m carrying?

What needs to change so life feels more manageable?

What supports are available to make life more manageable?

Burnout and stress counselling can benefit your mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing.

Your quality of life is important and counselling can give you the space to explore new ways of coping.

Maybe you’re functioning but feeling empty.

Or maybe you’re questioning your career or relationships. You could be successful yet unhappy, or wondering what you’re actually doing with your life. You could also be unsure of why you feel so bored and why life feels so meaningless.

Counselling can provide a space for you to find meaning and direction. You can explore important questions that matter to you. Some questions that might come up during meaning and purpose counselling are:

Is there more to life than just this?

Did I choose the right path in life?

I feel like something’s missing from my life.

How do I get excited about life again?

How do I know if my decisions will create more happiness?

Why do I feel so empty?

What kind of life do I want?

It’s a good thing that you want to have greater meaning and purpose in your life.

For most of our lives, we’re given rules and expectations to live by. At a certain point, these may fall short because they aren’t aligned with who we are.

Ultimately, we want to know that we’re working towards the things that are most important to us.

Our lives are full of changes.

Each new phase of life can bring unexpected feelings or leave us uncertain about who we are and what our future might look like. Some life transitions we may experience are:

Navigating midlife responsibilities

Changing careers or retirement

Relationship change

Shifts in core beliefs about yourself and the world

While life transitions can sometimes feel uncomfortable, they are opportunities for us to grow and experience new ways of being.

Counselling can help you strengthen your mental and emotional resilience while you explore new possibilities for your next phase of life.

When we are met with the same problems again and again, it could be that we are repeating long held patterns without realizing it.

Limiting or problematic thoughts and behaviours can impact the quality of our relationships, confidence, and beliefs about ourselves. Midlife can be a valuable opportunity to improve important areas of your life and see yourself in a new light. Some questions that might come up during counselling are:

Why do I keep getting into the same fights and arguments with ____?

Why does it feel like I’m not moving forward with my goals?

Why can’t I stop this harmful habit?

Why do I keep going back to the same negative thoughts?

Through counselling, you can start where you are and learn strategies for recognizing, preparing for, and shifting patterns you want to change.