Depression Therapy for Kids & Teens
When your child seems less like themselves.
It is heartbreaking to watch your child or teen withdraw into their bedroom, lose interest in the things they once loved, or meet your questions with a quiet “Nothing” or “I don’t know.”
At Koru, we help young people understand what is happening beneath the heavy fog of exhaustion and lost motivation. Together, we build gentle steps to help them reconnect with themselves, their families, and the life they want to live.
How It Works
Pick a Convenient Time
1. Choose Your Slot
Share Your Family's Story
2. Connect with Warmth
Co-Design Your Path Forward
3. Build a Collaborative Plan
We will hand-match your child to the right specialist and secure your spot. You walk away with absolute clarity and an immediate plan of support.
RECOGNIZING THE SIGNS
When your child seems less like themselves
Children and teens rarely say, “I feel depressed.” Sometimes the first sign is simply, ‘This isn’t my kid.’
Depression can affect mood, motivation, thinking, relationships, sleep, school, and the ability to feel pleasure—and it can look very different from one young person to the next.
They’re pulling away
What they loved stops mattering
Sports, music, friends, hobbies, and gaming begin falling away.
More angry than sad
Small requests lead to snapping, frustration, and intense irritability.
Everything takes more effort
Getting up, showering, going to school, and homework feel unexpectedly hard.
School is slipping
Sleep & appetite shift
Harsher self-talk
The future feels closed off
Expressing that nothing will change, nothing matters, or there’s no point trying.
Depression can make life feel smaller and heavier. Therapy can help your child begin finding their way back into it.
WHY IT BECOMES A CYCLE
How depression feeds itself
When a young person feels depressed, ordinary activities take more effort while giving back less. Naturally, they begin doing less — skipping friends and activities, staying in bed, avoiding schoolwork, withdrawing from family.
Those responses make complete sense when energy and motivation are low. But over time they also remove the very things that support wellbeing: connection, movement, enjoyment, competence, routine, and purpose. Slowly, the cycle reinforces itself.
FOR PARENTS
It’s hard to know when to push and when to back off
When your child withdraws, every option can feel wrong. Push too hard and they get overwhelmed or shut you out. Back off completely and you worry they’ll disappear further into their room.
You ask what’s wrong and hear “stop asking.” You say nothing and worry they’ll think you don’t notice. Many parents find themselves caught between concern and uncertainty.
WHAT IT CAN FEEL LIKE
"If I push, they shut down. If I don't, I'm scared they'll slip further away."
You don’t have to figure out the right response alone. Part of our work is helping you read your child’s capacity and respond in a way that keeps the connection open.
Your child may need compassion for reduced capacity and gentle support to keep depression from taking over more of their life. Therapy can help you find that balance.
OUR APPROACH
How depression therapy helps
We don’t ask your child to simply “cheer up.” We help them make sense of what’s changed and begin re-entering life in steps small enough to feel possible.
01
Understand
Make sense of what’s changed
02
Re-engage
Rebuild momentum
Depression tells young people to wait until they feel motivated. Using behavioural activation, we help them reconnect with meaningful activities and routines — starting small enough that change feels possible.
Movement often has to begin before motivation fully returns.
03
Think differently
Work with hopeless, self-critical thinking
Depression narrows attention toward failure, rejection, and reasons nothing will improve. Using approaches like CBT, we help young people notice these patterns and hold them more flexibly.
Instead of forced positivity, the goal is more accurate, less punishing thinking.
04
Reconnect
Strengthen connection and coping
SAFETY COMES FIRST
When depression includes thoughts of self-harm or suicide
Some young people experiencing depression have thoughts about hurting themselves, wanting to disappear, or not wanting to be alive. These experiences deserve to be taken seriously and talked about directly. As part of therapy, we assess safety when it’s clinically indicated and work together with young people and caregivers to decide what support is needed.
Talking openly about suicide doesn’t create suicidal thoughts. It creates an opportunity to understand what’s happening and respond well.
If you believe your child is in immediate danger or cannot stay safe, don’t wait for a routine appointment — get urgent help now.
IMMEDIATE DANGER
Call 911
SUICIDE CRISIS HELPLINE
Call or text 9-8-8
Free, 24/7, across Canada.
KIDS HELP PHONE
1-800-668-6868
Sometimes the first sign of recovery isn’t feeling happier. It’s beginning to participate in life again.
A GENTLE REFRAME
Your child may care about school and still struggle to begin. Love their friends and still leave messages unread. Want to feel better and still stay in bed.
None of that means they’ve stopped caring. It means the very thing depression disrupts — the ability to start — is the thing that looks like not caring.
WHEN DEPRESSION LOOKS LIKE “NO MOTIVATION”
Your child may care more than it looks like they do
A depressed young person can appear unmotivated, because motivation is one of the first things depression takes. Your child may care about school and still struggle to begin. Love their friends and still leave messages unread. Want to feel better and still stay in bed.
That doesn’t mean expectations disappear. It means expectations get calibrated to their current capacity while therapy helps rebuild it. Compassion and structure can exist together.
We want to avoid turning a symptom of depression into evidence of laziness, defiance, or not caring.
THERAPY FOR YOUR CHILD. GUIDANCE FOR YOU.
Parents are part of recovery
Keep connection available
Support re-engagement
Hold realistic expectations
Respond to hard statements
Protect routines that matter
Notice change early
You don’t need to become your child’s therapist. You do need to understand enough about depression to become a helpful part of the recovery environment.
WHAT PROGRESS CAN LOOK LIKE
Recovery often begins quietly
Your child may…
- Get out of bed more consistently.
- Respond to a friend, or return to an activity.
- Laugh spontaneously, or get interested in something again.
- Complete part of an assignment, or attend school more often.
- Shower or get dressed with less prompting.
- Sit with the family for dinner.
- Recover more easily after a hard day.
- Begin imagining things they want in the future.
The goal isn’t constant happiness. It’s the return of connection, engagement, flexibility, and hope.
THE WHOLE PICTURE
Depression doesn’t always happen on its own
Good therapy asks not only “Is this depression?” but also “What else may be contributing?” — because that fuller picture points us toward the right support.
Meet Our Calgary Child & Teen Depression Specialists
Our team consists of Registered Psychologists who specialize in supporting children and teens through evidence-based, compassionate, and somatic-relational approaches.
Jacqueline Stowkowy
Registered Psychologist
Through her genuine care and compassion for others, Jacqueline fosters a supportive environment that she believes helps her clients to achieve their full potential.
Dave McPherson
Registered Psychologist
Dave collaborates with clients to develop a support plan that suits each one’s unique needs using a strengths-based and positive approach. I
Fiona Steedman
Registered Psychologist
Fiona is passionate about fostering school and home environments that promote positive mental health, skill development, and overall well-being.
Dr. Caroline Buzanko
Registered Psychologist
Dr. Caroline focuses on practical, real-life strategies to build confidence, resilience, and connection. As a mom, she understands how hard it is to “do the right thing,” so she makes sure her advice is realistic and doable.
Nick Yasinchuk
Registered Provisional Psychologist
More info soon!
Kaycie Hartley
Registered Provisional Psychologist
Kaycie is dedicated to supporting children and their families by providing guidance and practical strategies to help build confidence and resiliency together.
Kristina
Registered Psychologist
More Info coming soon
Ready to match your child with one of our specialized clinicians?
Our team consists of Registered Psychologists who specialize in supporting children and teens through evidence-based, compassionate, and somatic-relational approaches.
QUESTIONS PARENTS ASK US
Frequently asked questions
Yes. In children and teens, depression often shows up as irritability, frustration, anger, or withdrawal rather than obvious sadness. That’s one reason it’s so easy to mistake for attitude or a behaviour problem.
Yes. Depression doesn’t require a young person to look sad every moment of every day. Some kids can still laugh, socialize, or function well in certain settings while struggling significantly in others. We look at the overall pattern rather than any single moment.
Complete withdrawal can deepen depression, but pushing beyond your child’s current capacity can add distress and conflict. Treatment helps families find the middle path: compassion for reduced capacity alongside gradual, purposeful re-engagement with life.
That’s common, and it’s okay. Young people don’t need to arrive ready to discuss their deepest feelings — a good child and teen therapist builds safety and trust first. Therapy can also involve activity, problem-solving, goal-setting, and practical change, not only talking about emotions.
No. Children and especially teens need an appropriate degree of confidentiality for therapy to feel safe and useful. Your psychologist will explain what’s private, what may be shared, and how safety concerns are handled at the start of treatment — and will help your child bring important things to you when that’s supportive.
Self-harm should be taken seriously. Young people self-harm for different reasons and the level of risk varies, so a psychologist assesses what’s happening and helps build an appropriate treatment and safety plan. If your child has a serious injury, has taken an overdose, or can’t stay safe, seek urgent emergency medical care.
Statements about wanting to die, disappear, or not be alive should be taken seriously, not dismissed as attention-seeking. Respond calmly, ask directly what they mean, and seek clinical assessment. If you believe there’s immediate danger, seek urgent emergency assessment or call or text 9-8-8.
Not every child or teen does. Psychotherapy can be an important treatment on its own, and medication may also be appropriate depending on symptoms, severity, safety, and history — a decision to make with a physician or other authorized prescriber. When it’s helpful, psychological and medical treatment can work together.
There’s no universal number of sessions. Length depends on the severity and duration of symptoms, level of impairment, safety concerns, developmental stage, co-occurring difficulties, family factors, and response to treatment. We review goals and progress with you rather than assuming every young person needs the same course.
YOU CAN REACH OUT EARLY
You don’t have to wait until your child is completely withdrawn.
Maybe they seem more exhausted. More irritable. Less interested. More isolated. Maybe school is slipping. Maybe they keep saying they’re fine while you know something has changed.
“This isn’t my child’s usual self.”
That’s enough reason to start a conversation.
We can help you understand what’s happening and figure out what support may help your child begin reconnecting with life.