Depression Therapy in Newmarket & York Region, You Deserve More Than Just Getting Through the Day
There is a particular kind of exhaustion that comes with depression that is hard to explain to people who have not felt it. It is not just tiredness. It is the weight of getting out of bed, the flatness where feeling used to be, the sense that you are going through the motions of your life without actually being present in it.
If that sounds familiar, you are not lazy. You are not weak. You are someone whose nervous system and mind need support, and that support is available.
As a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) in Newmarket, I offer depression therapy for adults and teens virtually across Ontario, using CBT, ACT, Behavioural Activation, somatic nervous system work, and mindfulness-based approaches. No waitlist. Sessions available day and evening.
What Depression Actually Looks Like
Depression is one of the most misunderstood mental health conditions because it rarely looks the way people expect it to. It is not always visible sadness. It is not always crying. For many of the clients I work with, it looks more like this:
“I don’t feel sad exactly, I just feel nothing.” “I keep functioning but I’m running on empty.” “I’ve lost interest in things I used to care about.” “I wake up and immediately dread the day.” “I look fine from the outside but inside I’m barely holding it together.”
Depression affects how you think, how you feel, how your body functions, and how you relate to the people around you. It is a whole-body experience, not a mindset you can simply choose your way out of.
Common signs include:
Persistent low mood, emptiness, or hopelessness that does not lift
Loss of interest or pleasure in activities that used to matter
Fatigue and low energy even after rest
Difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions
Changes in appetite or sleep, too much or too little of either
Physical symptoms, headaches, digestive issues, unexplained aches
Withdrawal from relationships and social situations
Feelings of worthlessness, guilt, or self-criticism
A sense of going through the motions without really living
Depression is not a character flaw and it is not something you should be able to think your way out of. It is a clinical condition with well-established, effective treatments, and it responds very well to therapy.
Types of Depression I Work With
Depression is not one condition. The way it shows up and the most effective path through it varies depending on the type and its underlying patterns.
Major Depressive Disorder
Significant, persistent episodes of low mood, loss of interest, and impaired daily functioning that last at least two weeks. Major depression can be episodic, meaning it comes and goes, or it can become chronic without treatment. According to CAMH, depression affects approximately 8% of Canadian adults at some point in their lives, making it one of the most common mental health conditions in the country.
Persistent Depressive Disorder (Dysthymia)
A lower-level but chronic form of depression that persists for two years or more. Dysthymia is frequently missed because the symptoms are less dramatic than major depression, but the cumulative impact of years of low mood, low energy, and low self-worth is significant. Many people with dysthymia have lived with it so long they assume it is simply who they are. It is not.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
Depression that follows a seasonal pattern, typically emerging in the late autumn and winter months as daylight decreases. Ontario’s long grey winters what many Newmarket residents simply call “The Grey” make SAD a particularly relevant presentation in this region. If your mood, energy, and motivation consistently drop between November and April and lift in spring, SAD may be what you are experiencing.
High-Functioning Depression
Perhaps the most commonly unrecognised presentation. High-functioning depression describes someone who maintains their responsibilities, work, parenting, relationships, while privately experiencing persistent low mood, exhaustion, and emptiness. From the outside, everything looks fine. On the inside, it is a daily effort just to keep going. Many people with high-functioning depression do not seek help for years because they feel they do not have a “good enough reason” to struggle. You do not need to be visibly falling apart to deserve support.
Depression Alongside Anxiety
Depression and anxiety co-occur in more than half of cases. The two conditions reinforce each other in a recognizable pattern; anxiety keeps the mind racing forward into worry, while depression pulls it backward into rumination and hopelessness. When both are present, therapy needs to address both simultaneously rather than treating one in isolation.
If anxiety is a significant part of your experience alongside depression, anxiety therapy in Newmarket covers how I approach that specific combination.
Postpartum Depression
Depression that emerges during pregnancy or in the first year after birth. Postpartum depression is one of the most common and most undertreated perinatal conditions, and one I have specific training and personal lived experience in. If you are navigating postpartum depression specifically, the postpartum therapy page goes into much greater depth on how I work with that presentation.
How I Treat Depression, Approaches Used in Sessions
Depression therapy in my practice draws on five evidence-based approaches, integrated according to what your specific presentation requires.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
CBT is one of the most extensively researched depression treatments available. In sessions, we work together to identify the thought patterns that maintain depression, the self-critical inner voice, the negative filtering, the all-or-nothing thinking, the belief that things will never change, and systematically replace them with more accurate and balanced responses. CBT also includes behavioural components that address the withdrawal and inactivity that depression creates and sustains.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
ACT is particularly valuable for depression because it addresses the experiential avoidance and psychological rigidity that depression creates. Rather than fighting against depressive thoughts and feelings, which often amplify them, ACT teaches you to hold them differently, to reduce their authority over your behaviour, and to move toward the life you want even when depression is still present. ACT helps depression take up less space without requiring you to feel better before you can start living better.
Behavioural Activation
One of the most effective and underused depression interventions. Depression creates a vicious cycle, low mood leads to withdrawal, withdrawal leads to less engagement with meaningful activity, less engagement deepens low mood. Behavioural Activation deliberately interrupts this cycle by gradually reintroducing activities that create a sense of accomplishment, connection, and pleasure, not because you feel like it, but because action often precedes mood change rather than following it. This is one of the most practical and immediately applicable tools I use with depression clients.
Somatic Awareness and Nervous System Regulation
Depression is not just a cognitive experience. It lives in the body in the heaviness, the low energy, the slumped posture, the shallow breathing, the physical sluggishness that makes everything feel harder. Somatic approaches work directly with these physical patterns, helping regulate the nervous system’s depressive state and building a felt sense of aliveness and groundedness that talk-based approaches alone cannot always reach.
Mindfulness-Based Therapy
Depression pulls attention backward into rumination, regret, and the replaying of past events. Mindfulness-based approaches, drawing on Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), train the mind to return to the present moment and to observe depressive thoughts as mental events rather than facts. MBCT has a strong evidence base specifically for preventing relapse in people who have experienced multiple depressive episodes.
Most clients begin to notice meaningful change within 8 to 16 sessions, depending on the severity and duration of the depression. I review progress regularly and adjust the approach as your needs evolve.
Most clients begin to notice a real shift within 8 to 12 sessions. I check in on your progress regularly, and I adjust the approach as your needs change.
What to Expect When We Work Together
Your first session is 50 minutes focused on understanding your experience of depression when it started, how it shows up for you, what it is affecting, and what you most want to change. You do not need to have a diagnosis or a clear explanation of why you feel the way you do. Many people arrive simply knowing that the way they have been feeling is not sustainable. That is enough.
From session two onward, sessions follow a structured but flexible format reviewing what has shifted, identifying current patterns and triggers, practising specific techniques, and building the skills and habits that support recovery between sessions. The work you do between sessions matters enormously with depression, and I design practical exercises that fit into your actual daily life.
Depression Therapy with Maria | Self-Help Only | Medication Alone | |
Addresses root thought patterns | ✓ | Partial | ✗ |
Builds long-term coping skills | ✓ | Partial | ✗ |
No waitlist | ✓ | N/A | Varies |
Virtual across Ontario | ✓ | N/A | N/A |
Evening appointments available | ✓ | N/A | Rarely |
Extended benefits coverage | ✓ | ✗ | Varies |
Tailored to your anxiety type | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
Does Depression Therapy Actually Work?
Yes depression is one of the most treatable mental health conditions. According to CAMH, the majority of people with depression who receive appropriate treatment experience significant improvement. CBT and Behavioural Activation in particular have decades of strong clinical evidence behind them, and the combination of approaches used in my practice reflects what the research consistently shows to be most effective.
What I have seen in my practice mirrors what the research shows. The most common thing I hear from clients several months into the work is some version of: “I forgot what it felt like to actually want things.” That shift from existing to living is what depression therapy is working toward.
60-80%
of people with anxiety disorders see significant, lasting improvement with CBT
Source: Anxiety Canada
Yes. Anxiety is one of the most treatable mental health conditions, and the evidence behind it is some of the strongest in the field. According to Anxiety Canada, CBT produces significant, lasting improvement in 60 to 80 per cent of people with anxiety disorders, with benefits that outlast the therapy itself.
What I’ve seen in my own practice reflects that. Most people who come to me believing their anxiety is just who they are leave understanding that it’s something they learned to do, a response pattern that developed for understandable reasons, and can genuinely change. That shift in understanding is often the turning point.
If you have spent years believing this is just how you are wired, I would like to show you otherwise.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know before booking your first session.
How much does depression therapy cost in Newmarket?
My sessions are $120 per 50-minute appointment. Many extended health benefit plans in Ontario cover sessions with a Registered Psychotherapist. I provide a receipt after every session that you can submit directly to your insurer. Check your plan under “Registered Psychotherapist (RP)” or “Psychotherapy.”
How many sessions will I need for depression?
Most clients see meaningful progress within 8 to 16 sessions. Depression with a longer history, or depression that is intertwined with trauma or significant life stressors, may benefit from more. I discuss realistic timelines at the assessment stage and review your progress regularly throughout.
Do you offer virtual depression therapy in Ontario?
Yes. I offer secure virtual sessions to clients anywhere in Ontario, available during daytime and evening hours. Virtual therapy is as effective as in-person therapy for depression and allows you to access support from wherever you feel most comfortable.
Is there a waitlist?
No. I currently have no waitlist. You can book a free 15-minute consultation and typically begin your first full session within the same week.
Can therapy help if I've been depressed for years?
Yes, and this is one of the most important things to say clearly. Long-term depression, including dysthymia that has been present for years, responds to treatment. Many people assume that because they have felt this way for a long time it must be permanent. It is not. The nervous system and the mind are genuinely adaptable, and patterns that have been present for years can change with the right support and consistency.
Should I try medication or therapy first for depression?
This is a conversation worth having with both your GP and a therapist. For mild to moderate depression, therapy alone, particularly CBT and Behavioural Activation, has strong evidence as a first-line treatment. For more severe depression, a combination of medication and therapy often produces better outcomes than either alone. I work alongside medical professionals and can complement medication-based treatment where that is the right path for you.