Depression Therapy
Are You Struggling to Feel Like Yourself?
For many men, depression doesn’t always look like sadness. It can show up as fatigue, irritability, disconnection, or a sense of emptiness that’s hard to put into words. You might find yourself withdrawing from people, losing interest in the things that used to bring you joy, or feeling weighed down by a heaviness you can’t shake. Sometimes it’s not that you feel too much, but that you don’t feel much at all.
Depression can make even simple tasks feel impossible. Getting out of bed, answering messages, socializing, or facing another day can take everything you have. Over time, the energy it takes to pretend you’re okay can become exhausting.
At Wild North Men’s Therapy, we don’t see depression as weakness or failure. It’s often your mind and body’s way of letting you know something deeper needs attention.
Why Men Experience Depression
Depression can have many layers. Sometimes it begins with the basics – poor sleep, low exercise, or inconsistent eating habits, or other health issues you may or may not be aware of (low iron, diabetes, etc…). When your body is run down, your energy drops, and your mood often follows. Over time, this imbalance can make it harder to concentrate, stay motivated, or feel present in your life.
If you’ve sorted out the basics, and you’re still feeling low, there’s likely more happening beneath the surface. We’re often taught to hide pain, stay strong, and keep moving forward no matter what. You might feel that your worth depends on what you can produce, fix, or provide. That pressure can slowly create distance from yourself and from the people around you.
When depression sets in, it creates a cycle that feeds on itself. Low energy leads to low motivation, and when you can’t seem to get things done, it chips away at your confidence. That loss of confidence can trigger guilt or frustration, especially if you’ve been taught that being productive and in control defines your worth.
As motivation drops, many men turn to distraction or escape. You might throw yourself into work, gaming, drinking, or doomscrolling just to avoid feeling stuck or inadequate. These things can offer short-term relief, but over time they make you feel even more disconnected. The less you do, the worse you feel about yourself – and the worse you feel, the harder it becomes to act.
It’s a loop that’s easy to fall into and hard to break, especially when you feel pressure to hold it together. Therapy can help by interrupting that cycle, rebuilding connection, and finding small, sustainable ways to move forward again.
Leaning into Depression
Depression can feel like being underwater. Everything above you seems distant, and no matter how hard you try to swim up, it feels like the surface keeps moving farther away. The instinct is to fight against it, exhausting yourself while swimming upward towards the light.
But when it comes to depression, the way up is often by going down. Down into the depths – into the sadness, the numbness, the emptiness, the hopelessness, the fear. Toward the heavy strings attached to you that keep pulling you downward.
If we allow ourselves to move toward these emotions, when we’re ready, we can begin to understand them, feel them, and slowly untangle what’s been pulling us downward. When we do that, swimming upwards towards the light becomes less difficult.
As therapist Carl Rogers wrote, “The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.”
How We Treat Depression At Wild North
Healing from depression begins by slowing down and meeting yourself where you are. In our work together, we’ll focus on creating a safe space where you can speak openly without pressure to fix or perform. Sometimes the most powerful step is simply allowing yourself to feel what has been avoided.
We’ll explore both the surface symptoms and the deeper roots of your depression, the stories, experiences, and emotions that have shaped how you see yourself and the world. Through Internal Family Systems (IFS), Narrative Therapy, Somatic Therapy, and other integrative methods, we’ll begin to reconnect you with the parts of yourself that are looking for a voice.
Along the way, you’ll also learn tools to support yourself day to day. This may include mindfulness practices, grounding techniques, and breathwork that help regulate your nervous system and bring a sense of presence back into your life.
The goal isn’t to chase happiness or force yourself to feel better. It’s to build a deeper understanding of yourself, to feel connected again, and to rediscover your own capacity for meaning, courage, and hope.
Discover more about Internal Family Systems (IFS) and how it shapes the Wild North approach.
Explore how Narrative Therapy guides the Wild North approach to helping you author a more authentic story.
Uncover how Somatic Therapy at Wild North helps you access the body’s wisdom to heal and integrate trauma.
Together, we’ll work on connecting you to the part of yourself that is calm, confident, courageous, and able to see the world with greater clarity. This is the part of you that knows how to hold space for your anxious feelings. It is the part of you that inherently knows how to heal your suffering and live in the present.
Inclusive Practice
My practice is LGBTQ+ affirming, sex-positive, and welcoming of women, non-traditional relationships, and gender-diverse identities. I’m also a friend and ally to the BIPOC community, and I have experience working with clients from diverse cultural, racial, and ethnic backgrounds. I strive to create a therapy space where you can explore your culture and experiences without fear of judgment or minimization. If you were born in the Milky Way, you are welcome here.