Gabriel Birkby, LMHC

When depression hits, it hits hard. Millions of adults experience this persistent sadness, and it gets in the way of living life. With the help of talk therapy, managing depression is very possible. With CBT, you can learn to identify when depression is influencing your behaviors and thoughts, and put a stop to the undesirable outcomes of depression- whatever that might look like for you!

Anxiety at its core is an adaptive emotion. It can help motivate us to prepare for life events. But what if it gets out of hand? It can become seemingly unmanageable. By learning techniques to alleviate the worst parts of anxiety, people can once more experience the adaptive nature of manageable anxiety- the kind that makes you put a snow brush in your car in late fall, not the kind that makes your chest hurt!

Everybody experiences trauma at some point in life. The human brain is wired to process this trauma naturally. Sometimes, the trauma is so intense that the brain is unable to make sense of the situation. It never gets resolved. We carry this trauma all throughout our body and mind. It results in feelings of intense fear, anxiety, sadness, anger, and overall misery. With proper trauma therapy, your brain can finally begin that process of resolving, opening up doors to your life that seemed shut for so long.

Humans are social by nature. It is healthy to be in mutual relationships with caring and loving people. But, this is not always the case. Perhaps your relationship with a friend, co-worker, partner, or family member is making life a bit harder. Counseling is a perfect place to talk about ways to set boundaries, communicate more effectively, and learn skills to help manage relationships in your life!

Stress is a major killer in the U.S. Not only that, but it takes you out of the present, making life more of a chore. Stress contributes to physical health issues, worsening mental health, and a plethora of other struggles. By learning ways to cope with and manage stress, you can find more solace in the experience of every-day life. Counseling is also a wonderful platform to simply talk about and process stressors, airing out concerns and thinking about solutions to problems that may have otherwise never been considered.

Anger, like anxiety, is another core emotion that everybody experiences. But when anger becomes all-encompassing, it can be incredibly painful. Taking the time to learn skills for managing anger allows for a fuller experience of life. Anger is listed last in this group of problems, because frustration is often the result of failed attempts to make things better, or alleviate symptoms. Start the path towards bettering your self and your life, and you will find that the anger will become something you are able to regulate.