Winter Low Mood Counselling Melbourne: Getting Through the Grey

Counselling Journey

By Christina Feyes · ~8 min read · Getting through the grey months

Why does winter flatten my mood?

Your body runs partly on light. When the mornings are dark and the sun sets before you have even left the office, your internal clock and the chemistry that shapes sleep, appetite and energy all shift. That is not you being weak. It is a very ordinary response to less light and more cold.

In Melbourne the shortest day of the year gives you roughly nine and a half hours of daylight, with the earliest sunsets landing around 5pm in mid June. So you leave home in the dark and come home in the dark, and the sky in between is often a flat sheet of grey. It is completely understandable that your body wants to slow down, eat more, sleep more and do less.

Research backs this up. In one national survey, more than one in three Australians said they feel more down and depressed in winter than in the warmer months, and more than half found it harder to wake up in the morning once the cold set in. If you feel like a different person in July than you do in January, you are in very ordinary company.

Is it the winter blues or something more?

Here is the honest distinction. A winter slump usually means you feel flatter, more tired and less motivated, but you can still function. You get to work. You laugh at something. The good moments still land, they just feel further apart.

Seasonal affective disorder, often shortened to SAD, is a clinical form of depression that follows the seasons, usually deepening in winter. It is real, but it is also genuinely uncommon in Australia. The best research estimates put it at around one in three hundred adults, with slightly higher rates in the far south like Tasmania. Ordinary winter depression, the non-seasonal kind, is far more common. The Australian Bureau of Statistics found that around 7.5 percent of people had an affective disorder such as depression in a given twelve months.

I want to be clear about something. As a counsellor, I do not diagnose SAD or depression, and neither should a blog post. Only a GP or psychologist can assess that. What follows is a description, not a diagnosis, to help you notice when it might be worth getting checked.

• Low mood or numbness that sits with you most of the day, most days, for two weeks or more
• Losing interest or pleasure in things you normally enjoy
• Sleeping far more than usual, or lying awake even though you feel exhausted
• Big changes in appetite or weight, often craving carbohydrates and comfort food
• Trouble concentrating, or a heavy fog that makes simple decisions hard
• Feeling worthless, hopeless, or that you are a burden
• Any thoughts of not wanting to be here

If several of those describe you, or if the last point is true at all, please treat it as more than a slump and speak to a GP. If you need support right now, Lifeline is on 13 11 14, Beyond Blue is on 1300 22 4636, and in an emergency call 000.

Why do Melbourne winters hit harder?

Melburnians are not imagining it. Most of Australia gets a mild, bright winter. Brisbane stays warm, Perth keeps its blue skies, Sydney gets crisp sunny days. Melbourne gets something else. The city’s famous “four seasons in one day” turns into a long grey stretch from June through August, where the cloud can sit low for a week at a time and the rain is more of a fine, persistent drizzle than a proper storm.

Add the daily rhythm of the place. You wait on a cold tram platform in the dark. The train windows fog up on the way home. If you live out in the growth suburbs like Werribee, Point Cook, Craigieburn or Pakenham, your commute is long, and in winter both ends of it happen in darkness. Even in the inner suburbs, the walk from the tram stop feels longer when the wind is coming off the bay and the footpaths are wet.

None of that causes depression on its own. But less light, less warmth, less movement and less daylight contact with other people all stack up. By August a lot of people are running on empty and quietly wondering what is wrong with them. Usually the answer is nothing is wrong with you. It is winter, and it is Melbourne, and your system is doing exactly what bodies do.

What practical things actually help?

Some of the most useful things are unglamorous and free. They will not fix everything, but they take the edge off the dip, and they are worth trying before winter has fully closed in.

• Get outside in the morning light, even for ten minutes. A walk to the tram in daylight, or coffee near a window, tells your body clock it is daytime.
• Keep some movement in the week. It does not have to be a gym. A walk along the Yarra, the Bay trail, or just around the block after dinner counts.
• Protect your sleep window rather than sleeping more. Oversleeping often makes the fog worse, not better.
• Stay loosely connected. Winter pulls you toward the doona and the group chat you never reply to. One real conversation a day matters.
• Watch the drift into more wine, more takeaway, more scrolling. They soothe for an hour and flatten you for the evening.
• Put one small thing in the calendar to look forward to each week, however minor.

If you have tried these and you are still sinking, that is useful information, not a failure. It can be the sign that some support would help.

What does counselling offer through winter?

Counselling gives you a regular hour that is entirely about you, in a season when your world tends to shrink to work, home and the commute in between. It is a place to say the flat, unglamorous truth out loud without having to reassure anyone that you are fine.

In sessions we look at what the low mood is actually made of. Sometimes it is mostly the light and the cold, and the work is gentle structure and self-compassion until spring. Sometimes winter simply turns up the volume on things that were already there, grief, a relationship under strain, loneliness, burnout, and the season is not the whole story. Talking it through helps you tell the difference, which on its own can lift a surprising amount of weight.

My background is in psychology, social work and human services, and I work as a counsellor, which means I do not diagnose or prescribe. What I offer is a warm, practical, non-judgemental space and tools you can use in the actual grey week you are living in. If you would like to read more about the ongoing support on offer, the individual counselling page explains how sessions work, and if your low mood feels deeper and more persistent, the depression counselling page goes further into that territory.

When should I see a GP instead?

This is the part I would rather over-say than under-say. If your low mood has lasted more than two weeks, is affecting your ability to work, eat, sleep or care for yourself, or if you have any thoughts of self-harm or of not wanting to be here, a GP is the right first call, not a counsellor.

A GP can assess for depression and seasonal affective disorder, talk with you about whether light therapy, medication or a mental health treatment plan makes sense, and refer you to a psychologist if clinical treatment is needed. Counselling can sit alongside all of that, and often does. But diagnosis and medical treatment belong with your doctor. If money or waitlists worry you, a GP is still the place to start, because a mental health treatment plan can open up subsidised sessions. There is no shame in needing the clinical door rather than the counselling one, and sometimes it is simply the better fit.

Does online counselling work in winter?

Honestly, winter is when online counselling makes the most sense. Soul Counselling is based in Southport on the Gold Coast and works with people right across Australia by video and phone, so there is no Melbourne office to trek to, which in July is a genuine relief. You do not stand on a dark platform or drive across town in the rain to get to your appointment. You take the session from your own lounge room, in warm clothes, with a cup of tea, and you do not have to face the cold afterwards.

For people out in Werribee, Craigieburn or Pakenham, that can mean the difference between keeping up support through winter and quietly letting it slide because the trip felt like too much. Sessions run for around 90 to 105 minutes, so there is room to actually settle in rather than rush. You can find the practical details on the Melbourne counselling page.

How do I start without overcommitting?

You do not have to decide anything big. The first step is a free 15-minute assessment, online, with no card and no obligation. It is a short conversation to see whether we are a good fit for what you are carrying, and to point you in a better direction if we are not. Some people finish that call and book a session. Some finish it and decide a GP is the smarter move for them right now, and that is a good outcome too.

Soul Counselling was founded in 2016 and holds a 5.0 rating from 57 Google reviews, and Christina is the author of Realizing Death. But none of that matters as much as whether the fit feels right for you. The only way to know is a low-stakes chat, and you can have that before you commit to anything at all.