Low mood that will not lift, and where counselling fits.

2 October 2026 · 7 min read

Low mood is something most people go through at some point. When it settles in for weeks and starts to colour everything, it can be hard to know what kind of help to look for. The ABS National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing found 7.5% of Australians aged 16 to 85 had an affective disorder, which includes depression, in the previous twelve months.

This guide explains where counselling fits, what sessions involve, and where other support should come first.

What low mood can feel like

• a heaviness that does not lift, even on good days
• losing interest in things you used to enjoy
• sleeping much more, or much less
• feeling tired, flat or numb
• pulling back from people
• being hard on yourself in a way that feels like the truth
• small tasks feeling like a mountain

Start with your GP

If this has lasted more than a couple of weeks, or it is affecting your sleep, appetite, work or relationships, your GP is the right first step. They can rule out physical causes, talk about options including medication, and explain Medicare-supported care with a Mental Health Treatment Plan.

Counselling does not replace that. It can sit alongside it, and many people use both.

What counselling can offer

Counselling gives you a regular, private hour with someone whose whole job is to listen and help you make sense of what is happening. Over time that can mean:

1. Putting words to it. Saying out loud what has been sitting heavy, without having to look fine.
2. Noticing patterns. How thoughts, energy and daily routine feed into each other.
3. Small, doable steps. Rebuilding the things that help, one manageable piece at a time.
4. Someone in your corner. A steady check-in when everything else feels uncertain.

Our practitioners do not diagnose or prescribe. If what you are carrying needs a doctor or specialist care, they will tell you and help you find it.

What a session can look like

There is no script, but a typical session might go like this:

• Checking in. How the week has been, including the hard bits.
• Picking one thing to look at. A pattern, a situation, or a feeling that keeps coming back.
• Making sense of it. What tends to set it off and what has helped before, even a little.
• One small step. Something realistic to try before next time, sized to your energy, not someone else's.

On low-energy days the session can simply be a place to talk. That counts too.

Small things people work on between sessions

When mood is low, big plans tend to fall over. Counsellors often help people focus on small, repeatable things instead:

• getting outside for ten minutes each day
• keeping roughly regular sleep and wake times
• one small task that has been hanging around
• one message to someone you have been avoiding
• noticing the harsh inner voice, and answering it the way you would answer a friend

None of these fix everything. Together, over weeks, they tend to make the ground feel a bit firmer.

When energy is low

You do not need to arrive with a plan, or even much to say. Sessions can move slowly. Some people find online sessions easier when getting dressed and travelling feels like too much, because the session comes to you.

How to tell it is helping

Change with low mood is usually gradual. Signs counselling is helping include:

• the heavy days feel a little less heavy, or pass sooner
• you can name what is happening instead of just being in it
• you are doing one or two small things again
• you feel less alone with it

If nothing is shifting after several sessions, tell your counsellor, and check in with your GP. Sometimes a different approach, or more support alongside counselling, is what is needed.

Finding someone who fits

Look for experience with low mood in a practitioner's profile, and notice whose words feel warm and plain to you. On InnerHub every profile shows qualifications, the country they come from and years of practice before you book, and you can change practitioner at any time at no extra cost. Our practitioners are qualified in their own countries and are not AHPRA-registered, so sessions sit outside Medicare: $59.90 AUD per session, with no referral and no subscription. Our page on depression counselling online explains how sessions work, and how it works covers booking.

Other support worth knowing

• Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636, any time, or online chat
• Lifeline: 13 11 14, any time
• Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467, any time
• Your GP: for assessment, treatment options and Medicare referrals

General information, not clinical or medical advice. For adults 18 and over. InnerHub is not a crisis service: in an emergency call 000, or Lifeline on 13 11 14.