Burnout and exhaustion
The flat, depleted heaviness that follows long stretches of overwork, caregiving or simply holding on for too long.
Depression Counselling Cairns
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Soul Counselling · Depression Support · Cairns
When the days feel flat in the Far North, you do not have to carry it alone
From the CBD and the Esplanade out to Edmonton, Smithfield and Redlynch, low mood can settle in quietly. If you feel numb, heavy or worn thin and cannot say why, Christina offers gentle depression counselling online and by phone, so support reaches you wherever you are in Cairns.
Book a free 15-minute assessment → Ask a question firstPrefer to talk first? Call 0479 144 561
In any given year around one in thirteen Australian adults, roughly 7.5 percent, lives with an affective disorder such as depression. Across Queensland the picture is wider still, with about 23.7 percent of people aged 16 to 85, close to one in four, experiencing a mental disorder in a twelve month period according to the ABS National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing 2020 to 2022.
Source: ABS National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing, 2020 to 2022.
Five-star Google reviews
People keep saying the same thing.
One conversation in, most clients say they’ve finally been understood.
“I truly felt heard for the first time in all my life and deeply understood.”
“When I came to Christina I was drowning in darkness… now I’m finally thriving again.”
“Due to her mediumship I was able to see core issues that I wasn’t able to recognise before.”
Depression rarely announces itself, and it can look like many things
- Mornings feel like wading through humidity, and getting out of bed takes everything you have before the day has even started.
- The things that once lifted you, the reef, the markets, catching up with mates, feel distant or simply flat.
- You are still turning up to work and looking fine, while inside you feel hollowed out and quietly exhausted.
- Sleep is either endless or broken, food loses its taste, and small decisions feel strangely heavy.
- Part of you wants to understand the deeper reasons underneath the tiredness, not just be told to push through it.
When the wet season closes in and the heat keeps you indoors, or you are a long way from the people who know you best, that heaviness can grow louder. It makes sense that it does.
How Christina works
How Christina works with depression
There is no forced brightness here and no pressure to snap out of it. Christina listens for what your low mood might be carrying, the losses, the pressures and the parts of you that have gone quiet. From that understanding, and at a pace that suits you, there is room for things to slowly soften and shift.
Understanding first
Before anything changes, Christina helps you make sense of what has worn you down, so the heaviness feels less confusing and less like a personal failing.
Gentle practical steps
Together you find small, doable ways to steady sleep, energy and daily rhythm, without demanding more than you have to give right now.
Deeper emotional layers
Where it helps, Christina brings clinical understanding alongside a more intuitive, reflective lens, so both the practical and the deeper feelings have space.
Go deeper
Want to understand depression a little more before you reach out
This page is kept short on purpose. If you would like a fuller picture of how depression works and how counselling can help, our depression blog explores it in more depth. Read at your own pace, then book only if it feels right.
Read the depression counselling blogNo pressure, and no need to decide anything today.
What we can work through
Common depression themes Christina supports
Depression takes many shapes, and these are some of the threads that come up most often for people in the Far North.
Grief and loss
The quiet low mood that lingers after a bereavement, a relationship ending or a life that did not turn out as hoped.
Isolation and distance
The loneliness of being far from home, family or old friends, common when work or life has brought you north.
Loss of meaning and motivation
The sense of going through the motions, unsure what you are working toward or who you are becoming.
About Christina
The counsellor behind Soul Counselling.
Christina Feyes founded Soul Counselling in 2016 and brings more than ten years of experience alongside training in psychology, social work and human services. She is a counsellor, not a psychologist, and she works with people right across Australia by video and phone, including throughout Cairns and the wider Far North.
Her approach draws on grounded clinical knowledge, warm and steady counselling, and an intuitive way of listening. That means sessions can hold the practical side of getting through the week and the deeper emotional layers underneath, whichever you most need on any given day.
Common questions
Before you book.
If your question is not here, the free 15-minute assessment is the easiest way to ask it.
Is depression counselling expensive?
There are no prices or fees listed here because the first step costs you nothing. Christina offers a free 15 minute assessment so you can get a feel for how it works and whether it suits you, with no card required and no obligation to continue. It is simply a chance to talk, ask questions and see if it feels like a fit. If it is not right for you, that is completely okay, and you can walk away having lost nothing.
Do I need a referral to start?
No referral is needed. You do not need to see a GP first or arrange any paperwork before reaching out. Many people in Cairns simply get in touch directly when they feel ready, or when the low mood has hung around longer than they would like. You are welcome to book the free 15 minute assessment yourself and start from there, at whatever pace feels comfortable for you.
Are sessions online, and is there a Cairns clinic?
There is no clinic in Cairns. Soul Counselling works entirely online across the Far North, by secure video or by phone, and Christina’s only physical base is in Southport on the Gold Coast. That means you can have your session from home, from a quiet room on a break, or anywhere private, without driving across town or into the CBD. For a remote region with long distances, online support keeps help genuinely within reach.
What if I do not know where to start?
That is one of the most common places people begin, and it is completely fine. You do not need to have the right words, a clear story or any idea of what to say first. Christina will gently help you find a starting point, often just by talking about how the last little while has been. The free 15 minute assessment is a low pressure way to test the water without committing to anything.
How many sessions will I need?
There is no set number, because everyone is different. Some people find a few sessions give them enough steadiness and clarity, while others value ongoing support over a longer stretch. Christina will not push you toward more than you want, and you stay in control of the pace and the frequency. You can start with the free assessment, then decide together what feels useful and sustainable for you.
What if I feel too flat to talk?
You are welcome to come exactly as you are, even if you feel numb, tired or unsure you can put anything into words. Depression often makes talking feel like hard work, and Christina understands that. There is no expectation to perform or explain everything. Sessions move gently, with plenty of room for quiet, and sometimes simply showing up on a heavy day is the meaningful first step.
Can online counselling really help from a remote Far North town?
Yes. Online counselling works well precisely because it removes the distance, which matters a great deal when the nearest in person service might be hours away or booked out for weeks. Whether you are in a small town on the Tablelands, along the Cassowary Coast or further north, all you need is a phone or a private connection. The quality of the support does not depend on being in the same room.
Is this a crisis service, and what should I do in an emergency?
No, counselling is not a crisis or emergency service. If you are in immediate danger or worried about your safety, please call 000 straight away. For urgent emotional support at any hour you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can reach 13YARN on 13 92 76 for culturally safe crisis support. Christina’s sessions are a supportive space for ongoing depression counselling, not for emergencies, so please use these services when you need help right now.
A gentle first step, whenever you are ready
Book a free 15 minute assessment to see how it feels to talk, with no card required, no obligation and nothing to lose.
Book your free 15-minute assessment →Prefer to talk first? Call 0479 144 561
Depression support across Cairns
Counselling grounded in what life in the Far North really asks of you
Cairns is a remote regional hub holding up a vast catchment, and that shapes how depression shows up here. The wet season heat can keep people indoors for weeks, and that cabin fever heaviness is real. A large tourism and hospitality economy means shift work, seasonal insecurity and a transient workforce a long way from home, while local services are thin, waitlists are long and the nearest support can be hours away.
- Hospitality and tourism workers riding the highs and lows of the seasons and the shifts.
- People who have moved north for work or a fresh start and feel far from their support network.
- Those in smaller towns across the region who cannot easily reach in person help.
- Anyone tired of long waits who would rather start talking sooner, from home.
Sessions are held online and by phone across Cairns and all of Australia. You can also explore all Cairns counselling services.
Support that reaches the whole Far North
Wherever you are in the catchment, help can still reach you
Because sessions are online, distance stops being a barrier, whether you are on the Esplanade, up on the Atherton Tablelands, along the Cassowary Coast, or further out toward Cape York and the Torres Strait. If you are looking for culturally safe support, Indigenous led services exist across the region, and 13YARN on 13 92 76 offers culturally safe support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Christina works respectfully alongside whatever support already matters to you.
Christina is a qualified counsellor, and every session happens online by video or phone at a gentle pace. You do not need to arrive with energy or a tidy story to explain everything. You can turn up as you are, even on the flat days, and start from wherever feels manageable.