A counsellor is sharing steps that you can take to keep track of how you feel and take the initiative to manage signs of depression and build better relationships.
Sarah Rosenfeld says about one in four people may become depressed throughout their lives.
The associate director of counselling initiatives with the Calgary Counselling Centre adds that depression is “pretty common.” She sees the importance of “slowing things down” and being responsive and not reacting in the heat of a situation.
“Sometimes the best strategy is to take a break. Take a deep breath. To walk away and to come back to it. And I’m not saying you come back to it – a long time from now, it’s just giving yourself that opportunity to slow things down.”
In the lead-up to its 17th National Depression Screening Day, the centre allowed free online use of its self-assessment tool so people could take a temperature check on how they were feeling.
Rosenfeld says people can take an inventory of where they are at. They acknowledge that their core values are what they want to honour, and take steps to be better.
“One of the things I talk to people about, beyond just mindfulness, breathing, exercise, sleep, nutrition, is before you get yourself into a situation that’s really challenging, think about the language you would want to use, like scripts essentially about how you would want to respond, is you feel like you are being pushed beyond your limit.”
Rosenfeld encourages people, when they are calm, to write out some approaches to take so that they can use these strategies in the future. She says a scripted approach can be refined going forward. Also, she emphasizes having “grace for ourselves and others, some goodwill goes a long way.”
“People are doing the best they can, and we might have got hurt along the way, but often, people are not doing things intentionally to us, they are passing through life and trying to manage the best they can. And then we come against that thing that was hurtful – and being able to have some grace and humility to ground ourselves and come back to remaining engaged with ourselves and with others.”
