You are not failing at life. You may be moving through depression.
Structured and relational counselling for adults navigating depression, numbness, hopelessness, withdrawal, self-criticism, and the exhaustion of trying to keep functioning.
Support in Calgary, Cochrane, and across Alberta
You may be looking for more than encouragement to think positively or push yourself harder. You want to understand why everything feels heavier, reconnect with parts of life that have gone quiet, and find a way forward that does not depend on pretending you feel better than you do.
At The Right Room, depression counselling is collaborative, evidence informed, and grounded in the reality that depression affects more than mood. Together, we can work with withdrawal, loss of motivation, sleep and routine disruption, hopelessness, self-criticism, relationships, meaning, and the slow process of rebuilding a life that feels reachable again.
The Focus of Treatment
More than trying to cheer up.
Effective depression counselling looks beyond simply reducing sadness. Together, we work toward understanding what keeps the depressive cycle going, rebuilding access to movement and connection, and creating supports that make life feel more possible over time.
01
Greater understanding
We map how depression shows up in your thoughts, body, routines, sleep, motivation, relationships, work, and sense of self. The goal is not to reduce everything to a diagnosis. It is to understand the cycle clearly enough that what feels like laziness, failure, or weakness can be recognized as a pattern we can actually work with.
02
More movement and connection
Depression often narrows life. Tasks get postponed, invitations are declined, routines disappear, and the things that once brought relief or satisfaction start to feel inaccessible. Therapy helps us interrupt that shrinking process gently and strategically, rebuilding activity, connection, pleasure, and mastery without turning recovery into another standard you have to fail.
03
More sustainable recovery
We work on the practical conditions that protect recovery: sleep, routine, meaningful activity, social connection, boundaries, self-compassion, and a plan for recognizing when symptoms are beginning to deepen again. The goal is not constant happiness. It is helping you build enough support and flexibility that a difficult period does not have to become your whole life.
What Treatment May Include
A plan built around what keeps you stuck.
Depression is not one-size-fits-all. Treatment is tailored to your symptoms, history, current stressors, relationships, routines, energy, strengths, and goals. Together, we decide which patterns need the most attention and what kind of support will create meaningful, sustainable movement.
01
Understanding your depressive pattern
Your care begins with a structured exploration of your mood, energy, sleep, motivation, thinking patterns, relationships, routines, stressors, previous episodes, and treatment history. We look at when depression tends to worsen, what has helped before, and which parts of life have become hardest to access. The goal is to build a treatment plan around your actual pattern rather than assume depression looks the same for everyone.
02
Behavioural activation and rebuilding momentum
When depression is present, waiting to feel motivated before acting can keep the cycle going. Using behavioural activation principles, we identify small, meaningful actions that reconnect you with pleasure, mastery, movement, or other people. The goal is not to fill your schedule or force productivity. It is to create enough contact with life that motivation has somewhere to return.
03
Hopelessness, self-criticism, and depressive thinking
Depression can make negative conclusions feel like objective facts: nothing will change, you are disappointing everyone, you should be doing more, or the future will always feel like this. Therapy can help you notice these patterns, examine them with more distance, and respond in ways that are grounded in evidence, values, and compassion rather than automatically treating the harshest thought as the truest one.
04
Routine, sleep, and energy support
Depression can disrupt sleep, appetite, activity, concentration, and the rhythms that normally hold a day together. We look at which routines support your mood and which expectations are unrealistic when your energy is low. The work is not about rigid scheduling. It is about rebuilding enough predictability and care that your body and mind have a steadier foundation for recovery.
05
Relationships, isolation, and receiving support
Depression often pulls people away from the very relationships that could help, while shame can make asking for support feel burdensome or undeserved. Therapy can help you understand patterns of withdrawal, communicate what you need more clearly, set boundaries where relationships are draining you, and rebuild connection in ways that feel manageable rather than performative.
06
Values, meaning, and reconnecting with yourself
Depression can flatten not only pleasure but also direction. You may still be meeting obligations while feeling disconnected from why any of it matters. Using ACT-informed work, we can clarify what you care about, notice where depression has pulled you away from it, and build small value-aligned choices that create movement before certainty or motivation fully returns.
07
Relapse prevention and coordinated care
If depression has been recurrent, treatment also includes understanding your early warning signs and building a plan for responding before symptoms become severe. With your written consent, therapy can include collaboration with your physician, psychiatrist, or another provider so psychological and medical care remain aligned. The goal is not to promise that depression will never return. It is to help you recognize it sooner and know what to do next.
Who This Approach Is Designed For
Depression does not look the same for everyone.
This approach is designed for adults who are:
- Living with depression, recurrent depressive episodes, or a persistent low mood that has become difficult to shift
- Functioning on the outside while privately feeling numb, exhausted, hopeless, or disconnected
- Struggling to initiate tasks, maintain routines, or care about things that used to matter
- Withdrawing from relationships or feeling guilty for needing support
- Caught in cycles of self-criticism, shame, rumination, or believing you should be able to push through
- Wanting more than reassurance and looking for a structured therapy process that creates real movement
Many of my clients with depression are thoughtful, capable, and accustomed to continuing to perform even when very little feels easy inside. They are not looking for someone to remind them to be grateful or try harder. They are looking for understanding, structure, and a way to make life feel reachable again.
If you want a therapy process that takes depression seriously without reducing you to it, respects your intelligence, and balances compassion with practical movement, this approach may be a good fit.
Counselling Locations
Support in Calgary, Cochrane, and online across Alberta.
Depression counselling is available in person at both The Right Room locations, as well as virtually for clients located anywhere in Alberta.
In Person
Cochrane
In-person depression counselling is available from The Right Room’s downtown Cochrane office.
Explore the Cochrane location
In Person
Calgary
In-person depression counselling is also available from The Right Room’s northwest Calgary location.
Explore the Calgary location
Virtual
Across Alberta
Virtual sessions are available for clients who are physically located in Alberta at the time of their appointment.
Learn about virtual counsellingFlexible Access
Whether you prefer meeting in person or from the comfort of your own space, therapy is tailored to your current symptoms, energy, routines, relationships, goals, and the practical realities of your life.
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions about depression counselling.
Starting therapy can bring up questions about diagnosis, medication, session frequency, cost, whether you need to be “bad enough,” and what treatment will actually involve. Here are answers to some of the questions people ask most often.
Do I need a referral to begin depression counselling?
No. You can self-refer for counselling. You do not need a referral from a family physician or psychiatrist to book a consultation or begin therapy.
If you already work with a physician, psychiatrist, or another health care provider, I can collaborate with them with your written consent.
Do I need a formal depression diagnosis to begin counselling?
No. You do not need a formal depression diagnosis to begin counselling. We can begin with the symptoms and patterns that are affecting your life whether you have a diagnosis, are questioning whether you may be depressed, or are already receiving medical care.
You do not have to prove that things are severe enough to deserve support. We can begin with low mood, numbness, withdrawal, hopelessness, self-criticism, changes in sleep or motivation, or whatever is making life harder right now.
How many sessions will I need?
The number and frequency of sessions depend on your goals, current symptoms, and support needs.
Many clients begin with weekly or biweekly sessions while we understand the depressive pattern, rebuild routines and activity, and work with the thoughts, relationships, or stressors maintaining symptoms. Sessions may become less frequent as mood, functioning, and confidence improve.
We regularly review whether the pace of therapy continues to feel useful and sustainable.
How much does depression counselling cost?
Individual counselling sessions are $235 for 60 minutes.
Insurance reimbursement may be available depending on your benefits provider and plan. A receipt is provided after each appointment for submission to your insurance company.
Can therapy help if I am already taking antidepressant medication?
Yes. Therapy and medication can address different parts of depression, and many people use both. Therapy can help you understand patterns, rebuild activity and connection, work with self-critical or hopeless thinking, and develop strategies for protecting recovery while your prescribing provider manages medication decisions.
With your written consent, I can also collaborate with your physician or psychiatrist when coordination would support your care. Medication decisions remain between you and your prescribing provider.
What happens during the first session?
The first full session focuses on understanding what is bringing you in, your mental health history, current symptoms, sleep, routines, relationships, stressors, strengths, previous treatment experiences, and goals.
We may begin mapping the cycle between mood, withdrawal, activity, thoughts, sleep, and relationships, but you will not be rushed into strategies before we have a clearer understanding of what is happening and what feels realistic right now.
What should I do if I am in crisis?
The Right Room is not an emergency or crisis service. If you are at immediate risk of harming yourself or someone else, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.
As part of ongoing treatment, we can create a personalized safety and response plan so you know which steps to take if hopelessness, suicidal thoughts, or other risk increases between appointments.
Still Unsure?
A no-cost 15-minute consultation gives you an opportunity to ask questions, discuss what you are looking for, and determine whether working together feels like the right next step.
Meet Your Therapist
Structured care with a real human.
Hi, I’m Hannah Tan, Registered Provisional Psychologist and founder of The Right Room.
I work with adults navigating depression, low mood, emotional numbness, hopelessness, self-criticism, burnout, relationship strain, and co-occurring concerns such as anxiety, ADHD, autism, or bipolar disorder. My approach integrates relational therapy with evidence-informed models including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, behavioural activation, and DBT-informed skills when they are useful.
Depression treatment requires more than encouragement and insight alone. I bring structure and clinical understanding to the work while remaining collaborative, relational, trauma-informed, culturally informed, and attentive to the realities of functioning when energy, motivation, and hope are low.
You will never be reduced to a depressive episode here. We can work directly with what depression is doing to your life while also making room for the person underneath it: your values, relationships, humour, ambitions, grief, anger, complexity, and the parts of you that may feel harder to reach right now.
Ready When You Are
Life can feel reachable again.
Depression can make the future feel smaller, heavier, and harder to imagine changing. If you are looking for counselling that takes that weight seriously while helping you rebuild movement, connection, meaning, and practical support one step at a time, I would be glad to meet you.
The Focus of Treatment
More than trying to cheer up.
Effective depression counselling looks beyond simply reducing sadness. Together, we work toward understanding what keeps the depressive cycle going, rebuilding access to movement and connection, and creating supports that make life feel more possible over time.
01
Greater understanding
We map how depression shows up in your thoughts, body, routines, sleep, motivation, relationships, work, and sense of self. The goal is not to reduce everything to a diagnosis. It is to understand the cycle clearly enough that what feels like laziness, failure, or weakness can be recognized as a pattern we can actually work with.
02
More movement and connection
Depression often narrows life. Tasks get postponed, invitations are declined, routines disappear, and the things that once brought relief or satisfaction start to feel inaccessible. Therapy helps us interrupt that shrinking process gently and strategically, rebuilding activity, connection, pleasure, and mastery without turning recovery into another standard you have to fail.
03
More sustainable recovery
We work on the practical conditions that protect recovery: sleep, routine, meaningful activity, social connection, boundaries, self-compassion, and a plan for recognizing when symptoms are beginning to deepen again. The goal is not constant happiness. It is helping you build enough support and flexibility that a difficult period does not have to become your whole life.
What Treatment May Include
A plan built around what keeps you stuck.
Depression is not one-size-fits-all. Treatment is tailored to your symptoms, history, current stressors, relationships, routines, energy, strengths, and goals. Together, we decide which patterns need the most attention and what kind of support will create meaningful, sustainable movement.
01
Understanding your depressive pattern
Your care begins with a structured exploration of your mood, energy, sleep, motivation, thinking patterns, relationships, routines, stressors, previous episodes, and treatment history. We look at when depression tends to worsen, what has helped before, and which parts of life have become hardest to access. The goal is to build a treatment plan around your actual pattern rather than assume depression looks the same for everyone.
02
Behavioural activation and rebuilding momentum
When depression is present, waiting to feel motivated before acting can keep the cycle going. Using behavioural activation principles, we identify small, meaningful actions that reconnect you with pleasure, mastery, movement, or other people. The goal is not to fill your schedule or force productivity. It is to create enough contact with life that motivation has somewhere to return.
03
Hopelessness, self-criticism, and depressive thinking
Depression can make negative conclusions feel like objective facts: nothing will change, you are disappointing everyone, you should be doing more, or the future will always feel like this. Therapy can help you notice these patterns, examine them with more distance, and respond in ways that are grounded in evidence, values, and compassion rather than automatically treating the harshest thought as the truest one.
04
Routine, sleep, and energy support
Depression can disrupt sleep, appetite, activity, concentration, and the rhythms that normally hold a day together. We look at which routines support your mood and which expectations are unrealistic when your energy is low. The work is not about rigid scheduling. It is about rebuilding enough predictability and care that your body and mind have a steadier foundation for recovery.
05
Relationships, isolation, and receiving support
Depression often pulls people away from the very relationships that could help, while shame can make asking for support feel burdensome or undeserved. Therapy can help you understand patterns of withdrawal, communicate what you need more clearly, set boundaries where relationships are draining you, and rebuild connection in ways that feel manageable rather than performative.
06
Values, meaning, and reconnecting with yourself
Depression can flatten not only pleasure but also direction. You may still be meeting obligations while feeling disconnected from why any of it matters. Using ACT-informed work, we can clarify what you care about, notice where depression has pulled you away from it, and build small value-aligned choices that create movement before certainty or motivation fully returns.
07
Relapse prevention and coordinated care
If depression has been recurrent, treatment also includes understanding your early warning signs and building a plan for responding before symptoms become severe. With your written consent, therapy can include collaboration with your physician, psychiatrist, or another provider so psychological and medical care remain aligned. The goal is not to promise that depression will never return. It is to help you recognize it sooner and know what to do next.
Who This Approach Is Designed For
Depression does not look the same for everyone.
This approach is designed for adults who are:
- Living with depression, recurrent depressive episodes, or a persistent low mood that has become difficult to shift
- Functioning on the outside while privately feeling numb, exhausted, hopeless, or disconnected
- Struggling to initiate tasks, maintain routines, or care about things that used to matter
- Withdrawing from relationships or feeling guilty for needing support
- Caught in cycles of self-criticism, shame, rumination, or believing you should be able to push through
- Wanting more than reassurance and looking for a structured therapy process that creates real movement
Many of my clients with depression are thoughtful, capable, and accustomed to continuing to perform even when very little feels easy inside. They are not looking for someone to remind them to be grateful or try harder. They are looking for understanding, structure, and a way to make life feel reachable again.
If you want a therapy process that takes depression seriously without reducing you to it, respects your intelligence, and balances compassion with practical movement, this approach may be a good fit.
Counselling Locations
Support in Calgary, Cochrane, and online across Alberta.
Depression counselling is available in person at both The Right Room locations, as well as virtually for clients located anywhere in Alberta.
In Person
Cochrane
In-person depression counselling is available from The Right Room’s downtown Cochrane office.
Explore the Cochrane location
In Person
Calgary
In-person depression counselling is also available from The Right Room’s northwest Calgary location.
Explore the Calgary location
Virtual
Across Alberta
Virtual sessions are available for clients who are physically located in Alberta at the time of their appointment.
Learn about virtual counsellingFlexible Access
Whether you prefer meeting in person or from the comfort of your own space, therapy is tailored to your current symptoms, energy, routines, relationships, goals, and the practical realities of your life.
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions about depression counselling.
Starting therapy can bring up questions about diagnosis, medication, session frequency, cost, whether you need to be “bad enough,” and what treatment will actually involve. Here are answers to some of the questions people ask most often.
Do I need a referral to begin depression counselling?
No. You can self-refer for counselling. You do not need a referral from a family physician or psychiatrist to book a consultation or begin therapy.
If you already work with a physician, psychiatrist, or another health care provider, I can collaborate with them with your written consent.
Do I need a formal depression diagnosis to begin counselling?
No. You do not need a formal depression diagnosis to begin counselling. We can begin with the symptoms and patterns that are affecting your life whether you have a diagnosis, are questioning whether you may be depressed, or are already receiving medical care.
You do not have to prove that things are severe enough to deserve support. We can begin with low mood, numbness, withdrawal, hopelessness, self-criticism, changes in sleep or motivation, or whatever is making life harder right now.
How many sessions will I need?
The number and frequency of sessions depend on your goals, current symptoms, and support needs.
Many clients begin with weekly or biweekly sessions while we understand the depressive pattern, rebuild routines and activity, and work with the thoughts, relationships, or stressors maintaining symptoms. Sessions may become less frequent as mood, functioning, and confidence improve.
We regularly review whether the pace of therapy continues to feel useful and sustainable.
How much does depression counselling cost?
Individual counselling sessions are $235 for 60 minutes.
Insurance reimbursement may be available depending on your benefits provider and plan. A receipt is provided after each appointment for submission to your insurance company.
Can therapy help if I am already taking antidepressant medication?
Yes. Therapy and medication can address different parts of depression, and many people use both. Therapy can help you understand patterns, rebuild activity and connection, work with self-critical or hopeless thinking, and develop strategies for protecting recovery while your prescribing provider manages medication decisions.
With your written consent, I can also collaborate with your physician or psychiatrist when coordination would support your care. Medication decisions remain between you and your prescribing provider.
What happens during the first session?
The first full session focuses on understanding what is bringing you in, your mental health history, current symptoms, sleep, routines, relationships, stressors, strengths, previous treatment experiences, and goals.
We may begin mapping the cycle between mood, withdrawal, activity, thoughts, sleep, and relationships, but you will not be rushed into strategies before we have a clearer understanding of what is happening and what feels realistic right now.
What should I do if I am in crisis?
The Right Room is not an emergency or crisis service. If you are at immediate risk of harming yourself or someone else, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.
As part of ongoing treatment, we can create a personalized safety and response plan so you know which steps to take if hopelessness, suicidal thoughts, or other risk increases between appointments.
Still Unsure?
A no-cost 15-minute consultation gives you an opportunity to ask questions, discuss what you are looking for, and determine whether working together feels like the right next step.
Meet Your Therapist
Structured care with a real human.
Hi, I’m Hannah Tan, Registered Provisional Psychologist and founder of The Right Room.
I work with adults navigating depression, low mood, emotional numbness, hopelessness, self-criticism, burnout, relationship strain, and co-occurring concerns such as anxiety, ADHD, autism, or bipolar disorder. My approach integrates relational therapy with evidence-informed models including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, behavioural activation, and DBT-informed skills when they are useful.
Depression treatment requires more than encouragement and insight alone. I bring structure and clinical understanding to the work while remaining collaborative, relational, trauma-informed, culturally informed, and attentive to the realities of functioning when energy, motivation, and hope are low.
You will never be reduced to a depressive episode here. We can work directly with what depression is doing to your life while also making room for the person underneath it: your values, relationships, humour, ambitions, grief, anger, complexity, and the parts of you that may feel harder to reach right now.
Ready When You Are
Life can feel reachable again.
Depression can make the future feel smaller, heavier, and harder to imagine changing. If you are looking for counselling that takes that weight seriously while helping you rebuild movement, connection, meaning, and practical support one step at a time, I would be glad to meet you.