Burnout and quiet exhaustion
The slow flattening that comes after years of high output, when the tank is empty but the demands have not eased.
Depression Counselling Canberra
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Soul Counselling · Depression Support · Canberra
When the days in Canberra have gone flat and grey, you do not have to keep pushing through the heaviness on your own.
If you are in Civic, Belconnen, Gungahlin, Woden, Tuggeranong or the inner south and the mornings feel like lead, the numbness will not lift and the effort of everything has quietly worn you down, you are welcome here. Sessions with Christina are held online by video and phone, wherever you are.
Book a free 15-minute assessment → Ask a question firstPrefer to talk first? Call 0479 144 561
Around one in thirteen Australian adults, about 7.5 per cent, live with an affective condition such as depression in any given year, so if you are feeling this way you are far from alone. In the ACT the picture is heavier still, with the ABS National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing finding that 25.5 per cent of Canberrans aged 16 to 85 experienced a mental disorder in a twelve month period during 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; more often it just quietly takes the colour out of things
- You get through the working week on autopilot, then have nothing left for the people or the weekends you used to look forward to.
- Sleep has turned against you, either dragging you under for hours or leaving you wide awake at three in the morning with a mind that will not settle.
- Things that once mattered, a run around the lake, a catch up, a project, now feel like a wall you cannot climb.
- You feel oddly detached, watching your own life from a distance, present in the room but not really in it, with a low self-critical voice telling you that you should be coping better than this.
- And underneath it all you want to understand the deeper reason this settled in, not just paper over it and carry on.
Many of the people Christina sees are highly capable and still holding it all together at work; the collapse, when it comes, tends to happen quietly at home once the front door closes.
How Christina works
How Christina works with depression
There is no forced positivity here and no pressure to reframe your way out of something real. Christina starts from the view that low mood is usually carrying a message, a weight your whole system has been managing for a long time. The work is to understand what it is holding, ease the load gently, and let genuine hope return at its own pace rather than on demand.
Space to be honest
A calm, unhurried place where you can put down the capable front and say how flat things actually are, without having to perform or explain yourself.
Understanding the roots
Together you look at what has quietly built up over time, so the heaviness makes sense rather than feeling like a personal failing.
Small, real steps
Gentle, doable shifts that fit an already full life, so momentum builds from something achievable instead of another impossible to-do list.
Go deeper
Want to understand depression a little more before you reach out?
This page is deliberately short. If you would like a fuller sense of how depression works, why it lingers and what genuinely helps, Christina has written a longer, plain spoken guide. It can be a gentle way to feel out whether this approach fits you before you book anything.
Read the depression counselling blogRead it in your own time; there is no rush and no obligation.
What we can work through
Common threads in the depression Christina sees
Depression wears different faces, and these are some of the patterns that bring Canberrans to counselling.
Feeling far from home and support
The particular loneliness of being posted or having moved to Canberra for work, with family and old friends several states away.
Loss of meaning and direction
A sense that you are going through the motions and have lost touch with what you actually want your life to be about.
Numbness and disconnection
Feeling emotionally muted or shut down, unable to properly reach the people closest to you.
About Christina
The counsellor behind Soul Counselling.
Christina Feyes founded Soul Counselling in 2016 and has spent more than a decade walking alongside people through low mood, loss and burnout. Her background spans psychology, social work and human services, and she works with clients right across Australia, including throughout Canberra and the wider ACT, entirely online.
What people tend to value most is the way she brings together grounded, practical counselling and a more intuitive, sensitive way of listening. She can hold both the everyday layer, the sleep, the workload, the routines, and the deeper emotional currents underneath, so nothing important about your experience gets flattened or rushed.
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 fees or prices listed on this page because the honest first step costs nothing. Christina offers a free 15-minute assessment so you can get a feel for her and how she works before you decide anything at all. There is no card required and no obligation to continue, so you genuinely have nothing to lose by having that first conversation. If it feels right afterwards, you can talk together about what ongoing support might look like for you.
Do I need a referral from a GP to book?
No, you do not need a referral or any paperwork to begin. You can reach out directly and book your free 15-minute assessment yourself. Christina is a counsellor rather than a doctor, so there is no formal referral process to navigate. Many people find it a relief to simply start talking without first needing an appointment elsewhere. If you are already working with a GP or another practitioner, counselling can sit comfortably alongside that support.
Is there a Soul Counselling clinic in Canberra I can visit?
There is no physical clinic in Canberra. Christina works online by video and phone with clients right across the ACT, from Civic and the inner north to Woden, Tuggeranong, Belconnen and Gungahlin. Her only physical base is in Southport on the Gold Coast, but you never need to travel there. Everything happens through a private online session wherever you are, which many Canberrans find far easier to fit around work and life.
Are online sessions really private and discreet?
Yes, and for many people in Canberra that privacy is one of the main reasons they choose online counselling. There is no waiting room and no building to be seen entering, so there is no risk of running into a colleague or neighbour. You connect from home or another quiet, private space, at a time that suits you. In a city where professional circles often overlap, being able to seek support without anyone seeing you attend can make all the difference.
I do not really know where to start. Is that a problem?
Not at all, and it is one of the most common things people say. You do not need to have your feelings sorted into neat categories or arrive with a clear explanation. Often just saying that things have felt flat, heavy or off for a while is more than enough to begin. Christina will help you find the words gently, at your own pace. The first conversation is simply about getting a sense of each other, with no pressure to cover everything at once.
How many sessions will I need?
There is no fixed number, because everyone arrives with a different story and different circumstances. Some people come for a short stretch to move through a particular patch, while others value having ongoing, steady support over a longer period. Christina will never push you toward more sessions than feel useful to you. You stay in control of the pace and can review how things are going at any point, so the support always fits where you actually are.
What if I feel too flat or numb to talk?
That is completely understandable, and you do not need to arrive with energy or the right words ready. Depression often makes talking feel like too much, and Christina works with that rather than against it. Sessions can move slowly, with plenty of room for quiet, and there is no expectation to perform or explain everything at once. Sometimes simply showing up and sitting with someone who is not asking you to be okay is where the first small shift begins.
What if I am really struggling or do not feel safe right now?
Please reach out for immediate support. Counselling with Christina is not a crisis or emergency service, so if you are in danger or thinking about harming yourself, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 at any hour, or call 000 if you or someone else is in immediate danger. These services are there for exactly these moments and can help you through the night. Once you are safe and steady, counselling can be a supportive next step, but your safety always comes first.
Can counselling actually help with long-term low mood?
Counselling will not promise to cure or fix you, and Christina does not diagnose or prescribe. What it can offer is a steady, understanding space to make sense of why the heaviness settled in and to ease it gently over time. Many people find that being genuinely heard, and gradually understanding the roots of their low mood, helps hope and energy return at their own pace. The free 15-minute assessment is a low pressure way to see whether this kind of support feels right for you.
A small first step, whenever you are ready
Book a free 15-minute assessment with Christina, no card and no obligation, and simply see how it feels to talk; you truly have nothing to lose.
Book your free 15-minute assessment →Prefer to talk first? Call 0479 144 561
Depression support across Canberra
Counselling shaped for the way Canberra actually lives and works
Canberra runs on a demanding rhythm, and it takes a toll that is easy to hide. The Australian Public Service work cycle, with its estimates periods, briefings and long stretches of high pressure output, can leave capable people running on empty for months before they admit anything is wrong. Add a population that is often posted in, transient and living far from family, and low mood can build quietly with very little support around it.
- Public servants and policy staff who look composed at work but feel hollow and exhausted once they are home in Kingston, Braddon or Dickson.
- People who moved to Canberra for a role and feel isolated in Gungahlin, Belconnen or Molonglo, far from their old networks.
- High achievers who have quietly hit a wall and are frightened that slowing down will cost them.
- Anyone across Woden, Tuggeranong or the inner north who has been low for a while and is finally ready to talk to someone.
Sessions are held online and by phone across Canberra and all of Australia. You can also explore all Canberra counselling services.
Private and discreet
Genuinely private support, from your own home
Canberra can feel like a small, interconnected city where professional and social circles overlap more than people expect. For many, the worry of being seen walking into a clinic is enough to put off reaching out at all. Discretion is not a small thing here, and it is taken seriously.
Because Christina works entirely online, there is no waiting room and no chance of running into a colleague on the way in; you simply connect from wherever you feel safe, whether that is home or a quiet office. She is a qualified counsellor, and sessions move at your pace. You do not need to arrive polished or with the energy to explain everything at once; you can start slowly and let it unfold.