Understanding and Managing Depression

Depression affects about 10% of the population.  It is a biochemical disorder that causes changes in a person's mood, behavior and feelings. It interferes with everyday living. This workshop will offer valuable tools for alleviating depression and stress among human service providers and their clients during this time of increased case loads.

Sometimes depression has a very obvious face, sometimes it does not. It can be very confusing to differentiate between depression, sadness, burnout, and anxiety. In this workshop, you will understand how to recognize depression in yourself, in the people whom you serve, and in others around you. After recognizing it you will then learn how to support those who are experiencing depression through validation, empathy and support.

Attendees will learn:

• Basic diagnostic principles of depression, along with strategies for early detection;
  
• Increased knowledge of the signs and symptoms of depression;
  
• To validate and direct those experiencing depression to helpful resources;
  
• Available impact and treatment options;
  
• Different ways in which depression may present itself in the general population;
  
• Techniques to support a person showing symptoms of depression; and
  
• Immediately usable skills for managing depression.
  

Presenter: Allison Johanson, LCSW, LAC. Ms. Johnson is a licensed in clinical social work and addictions. She has been actively working in mental health and assisting in diagnosing clients since 2007. Since 2011, Ms. Johanson worked as an enhanced outpatient case manager and outpatient therapist at the Mental Health Center of Denver. Her most recent involvement with MHCD was as part of their Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Program.  She has been in private practice since 2014.

Realizing that many who feel that they do not need psychotherapy would benefit from the experience nonetheless, Ms. Johanson has expanded her practice to include presentations which address emotional engagement during difficult life-events, such as a death in the family, life-threatening illness and divorce.