Saanich · Greater Victoria · Online
Depression Counselling and Therapy in Saanich, BC
On the Peninsula, low mood after retirement or a loss is easily put down to age rather than recognised as depression.
Depression Counselling for people in Saanich is delivered by secure video by Registered Clinical Counsellors registered with the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors, with a free first consultation, no referral, and receipts your extended health plan can process.
Updated October 2, 2026
Sidney’s median age in the 2021 Census was 62, and North Saanich’s was nearly 57. In towns this old, the losses arrive closer together: a partner, friends, a role, health that used to be taken for granted. Low mood after that run of losses is so expected that it is rarely examined, and depression hides comfortably inside what everyone agrees is simply getting older.
Age is not a cause of depression and it is not a reason to leave it alone. Counselling at seventy works on the same things it works on at thirty: what the low mood is doing to sleep, to contact with people, and to the days themselves. A session by video, from a familiar chair, removes the drive into town, which is often the first thing a low stretch makes impossible.
Sessions are $140 for 50 minutes and start with a free 30-minute video call, no charge, no card, and no obligation to book anything afterwards. Many BC extended health plans reimburse a Registered Clinical Counsellor; whether yours does is plan-dependent. Fees and extended-health cover are set out in full.
Depression counsellors in Saanich: who you would see
Taking new clients for depression counselling and seeing people in Saanich by secure video. Each is a Registered Clinical Counsellor; the registration is on the profile and can be checked on the BCACC register.
Camille Granda, RCC, CCC
English and Tagalog · Trauma, Anxiety and chronic stress, Grief, loss and life transitions
Savneet Singh, RCC
English and Punjabi · Anxiety, Depression, Trauma and attachment
Getting counselling in Saanich
Saanich runs from Gordon Head and the university to farmland and the Peninsula towns at the end of Highway 17, and the listings people search treat all of it as Victoria. From Sidney or Brentwood Bay, an appointment in town is the highway in both directions.
Island Health’s public intake for the South Island is downtown, on Pembroke Street, and a search under “Victoria” returns the whole region at once, with no sense of which end of it you live at. Students have campus counselling; the Peninsula’s towns are small enough that the local counsellor may well be a neighbour.
Public mental-health intake for Saanich runs through Island Health. That route matters if you are seeking publicly funded care. It has no bearing on seeing a Registered Clinical Counsellor privately, which needs no referral and no diagnosis. See how RCCs, psychologists and social workers differ.
The district stops having a far end. Cordova Bay, Gordon Head and Sidney are the same distance from a video session, and the end of a term does not have to be the end of the work.
More on this city, including who else it serves and what the local picture looks like: online counselling in Saanich.
What depression counselling involves
Depression is often described as sadness and is more often an absence: of energy, of interest, of the sense that any of it matters. It gets called laziness by the person experiencing it more than by anybody else.
What it is commonly used for
- Low mood that has outlasted whatever started it
- Losing interest in things that used to matter
- Exhaustion that sleep does not touch
- Harsh, constant self-criticism
- Withdrawing from people, then feeling worse for being alone
- Winters that are consistently harder than the rest of the year
Depression removes the energy required to do the things that lift it, which is why advice fails. The work starts small and concrete, restores movement before insight, and looks at what is maintaining the low rather than only at how it feels.
The full picture: how sessions are structured, what the first one is like, and what it does not do, is on the page for online depression counselling across BC. If you are still working out what you need, the short questionnaire is a quicker route than reading all of them, and what to expect in a first session covers the part most people are actually nervous about.
Questions from Saanich
Is it depression, or am I just getting older?
Getting older brings losses, and sadness about them is ordinary. Depression is different in kind: a flatness that settles in, interest that does not come back, sleep and appetite that change. A counsellor can help you tell the two apart, and a physician can rule out a medical cause.
My doctor has suggested medication. Is counselling instead of that?
Not instead, and not in competition. Many people use both, and the decision about medication belongs to you and your doctor. Counselling works on the patterns that keep a low mood in place, whichever way that decision goes.
I am not used to video calls. How hard is it?
Less hard than most people expect. The link opens in a browser with nothing to install, and the opening minutes of a first session are routinely spent making sure sound and picture work. A family member can help set it up and then leave the room.
Who would I see for depression counselling in Saanich?
For depression counselling in Saanich, Camille Granda, RCC, CCC, who works in English and Tagalog or Savneet Singh, RCC, who works in English and Punjabi. Each sees people by secure video, and the free consultation is with whichever of them you choose, so the person you meet first is the person you would see.
Is depression counselling available in Gordon Head, Cordova Bay, Royal Oak, Central Saanich, North Saanich or Sidney?
Yes. Depression Counselling by secure video reaches Gordon Head, Cordova Bay, Royal Oak, Central Saanich, North Saanich and Sidney exactly as it reaches Saanich: there is no office to get to and the same fee applies however far out you are. Island Health is the public route for Saanich and the rest of its region; this is the private one, and it needs no referral.
What does depression counselling cost in Saanich, and will my plan cover it?
In Saanich, as everywhere in BC, depression counselling is $140 for 50 minutes (BCACC’s 2026 fee guide recommends $140 to $175), after a free 30-minute consultation. Many BC extended health plans reimburse a Registered Clinical Counsellor; whether yours does is plan-dependent, so check it for the RCC designation before the first paid session.
More frequently asked questions, or book the free consultation and ask directly.
Other counselling in Saanich
- Anxiety Counselling and Therapy in Saanich, Around the university, anxiety runs to a term calendar, and the calendar does not pause for treatment.
- Trauma Therapy and Counselling in Saanich, Same-day public help in Greater Victoria is good at the immediate; trauma work is rarely immediate and rarely short.
- Couples and Marriage Counselling in Saanich, On the Peninsula, couples counselling often arrives late: after a retirement, a diagnosis, or one partner becoming the other’s carer.
- EMDR Therapy in Saanich, For a student, EMDR’s preparation phase has to fit a term, and a term has an end date.
Depression Counselling nearby
The practice is virtual and covers all of British Columbia. See every city page, or the full list of services. Questions specific to Saanich are answered on the city page.
Sources
Depression Counselling and Therapy in Saanich, without the travel
A free 30-minute video call, in English, Punjabi or Tagalog. No charge, no card, and no obligation to book anything afterwards.
Book Free ConsultationNot ready to book? Send a line about what is going on. A reply comes within one business day, or read the guides first and come back when you want to.
Looking on behalf of someone else? What to send them, and what not to, including the funded routes most people do not know they qualify for.