Welcome to Ditch the Black Dog
Helping people suffering from depression and low mood to ditch the 'black dog' and create a life worth waking up again for!♥
Retreat into this sacred space where you’ll merge the modern with the magickal to begin healing your body, mind, heart and Soul in ways therapy and medication can’t touch.
♥
Are you ready to feel the magick happen?
Welcome to the Ditch the Black Dog
Hello my friend, I’m so glad you’re here.
You’ve been guided to this corner of the internet because your ‘one wild and precious’ life is being ruined by chronic low moods, deep feelings of sadness, or constant depression.
You’re sick and tired.
Sick of endlessly revisiting traumatic events in therapy sessions and taking meds that make you feel like a zombie.
Tired of feeling hopeless, pretending to everyone else that you’re ok, when in reality, you’re dying inside.
You desperately want to get off this road to nowhere and find a new path that actually helps you feel better, instead of only managing to crawl through yet another exhausting day.
If you’re ready to stop endlessly going round in circles and start creating a life worth waking up for every morning, you’re in the right place, cos here at Ditch the Black Dog, we do things VERY differently.
I offer therapeutic mental wellness mentoring with a magickal twist to help you move from hoping you go to sleep and never wake up, to jumping out of bed full of passion for life.
Did you know that even though we may be diagnosed with depression, it’s not really a mental illness in and of itself?
It’s actually a symptom of something else.
That’s why we often find that medication and talk therapy are only a short term fix.
If you only treat the symptoms of an illness and don’t take care of the root cause of it, you may never fully heal.
Don’t get me wrong, traditional therapy and medication can play a vital role in your recovery.
But you may need to do something more if you want to send the black dog away!
There are a few reasons why human beings suffer from depression, but the most common reasons need a little more than meds and talking.
(I’ll explain more about the reasons for depression in my blog and podcast, so stick with me.)
If you want to move beyond trying to survive and actually experience happiness, you need something more.
You need to:
💔 heal your wounds,
💥 banish the psychological blocks that keep you stuck and
🤩 dare to create the life you want, instead of accepting a life you accidentally ended up with!
Most importantly, you need to do the right things in the right order if you’re to get the best results.
The Ditch the Black Dog Virtual Retreat is designed to help you do all those things.
As a neurodivergent abuse survivor, the black dog has stalked me since I was a child.
I’ve been where you are.
I know the pain, overwhelm and sheer exhaustion of living with depression and low moods.
In my fight to rid myself of the black dog, I trained in modern coaching and therapy techniques.
I hoped I’d win the battle once and for all.
But they only helped me get so far on my healing journey. I’d feel better for a short while and then fall back into depression again as soon as I hit any kind of stressful situation.
Something was missing.
The secret sauce that transformed my life beyond all expectations?
Magick!
Gaian magick – in the form of rituals, ceremonies, and spells – was the missing piece that helped reconnect me to what really matters and, at the same time, nourished my body, mind, heart, and Soul, so I could feel healthy, happy, and whole.
The funny thing about magick is that although you can practice witchcraft alone, it takes you outside of yourself.
Depression makes you insular, and you live inside your own head with only your dark thoughts for company.
Magick makes you pay attention to external forces – nature, the elements, higher powers.
And the most helpful thing is that it can help you feel in control and hopeful in situations where previously you felt helpless.
Now, I want to share what I discovered with you, so you can ditch the black dog of depression and make your life feel magickal, too.
Ready to get started?
Let’s Go!
Introducing the Ditch the Black Dog Virtual Retreat
When you’re battling depression, finding effective support can feel impossible.
Maybe you've been prescribed medications that leave you feeling numb, or you're suffering from hideous side effects that make you feel even more miserable!
Or you've waited months for an appointment with a therapist, only to find you don't feel comfortable with them or their methods.
Maybe you get an hour of therapy a week, with no additional support when you need it most?
If you've been lucky enough to access therapy, maybe it hasn't worked the way you hoped. Or your allocated sessions ended just as you were starting to open up, leaving you feeling lost and alone.
Perhaps you clawed your way out of one dark episode of depression, only to find the black dog creeping back in and the whole exhausting battle begins all over again.
Or have you received treatment in hospital and now find yourself struggling to put the pieces of your life back together by yourself?
Enough already!
It's time to end the cycle of suffering.
I created the Ditch the Black Dog Virtual Retreat as a solution to the problems I encountered when I needed help with depression. I've included all the things I needed when I felt like my life wasn't worth waking up for, including support with societal and cultural causes of depression.
Join the Ditch the Black Dog of Depression Virtual Retreat
The Ditch the Black Dog Virtual Retreat is always open for you.
There's something helpful, no matter which stage of depression you find yourself in.
You'll find support, practical tools, healing and hope, combined with a generous sprinkle of Gaian Magick, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week - even at 4am when everything feels darkest.
Take a look - it might be exactly what you need to help you put depression into remission for good.
What if you're not ready to join the Ditch the Black Dog Virtual Retreat?
That's ok! You can find out more and get a taste of what the retreat has to offer inside my FREE Black Dog Café community.
You don't have to battle the Black Dog of depression alone!
The Black Dog Café is a FREE, off-Facebook sanctuary for depressed souls who are done pretending they’re fine.
No pressure. No platitudes.
Just connection, compassion, and a generous portion of healing magick to help you feel less alone and feel supported as you get back to feeling more you.
Don't bother getting out of your PJ's - just grab a coffee (or your favourite drink) and come on over.
You don’t have to battle the Black Dog alone. I'm saving a space for you! ☕
The café is a safe space on the edge of the virtual retreat, where the Black Dog no longer bites, just curls up beside us as we begin to create a life worth waking up again for.
Not sure where to start your healing journey?
Take this short quiz to discover your first step to ditching the black dog and get the clarity you need to create a life worth waking up again for!
You don't need to do ALL. THE. THINGS!
One small change can make all the difference to your mental health and wellness. But which change? Do the quiz and find out!
Hi, I’m Maria
I’m a magickal mental wellness mentor for people looking for natural and alternative ways to lift persistent low moods, sadness and situational depression, so they can live a happy, meaningful life.
I’m not here to diagnose or offer licensed professional medical help.
But what I do offer is a space to fill in the gaps left by therapy and medication.
I’m here to help you if you’re;-
😔 feeling unsupported and left to cope alone;
💊 taking meds you might not need, or that make you feel awful;
👩⚕️ paying for endless talk therapy sessions that spend too much time focusing on your past, leaving you feeling exhausted, disempowered and broken.
After suffering from depression for decades, I hit a crossroads. I knew I had a choice –
to give up and succumb to this awful mental illness,
or do whatever it took to ditch the black dog.
Luckily, my kids gave me the motivation to fight. I learned everything I could about depression, how we can put it into remission and live happy, fulfilled lives.
I’ve taken everything I’ve learned and created the kind of therapeutic space I needed when I was suffering from the worst depression of my life.
I don’t want you, or anyone else, to feel as broken, hopeless and alone as I did.
The Ditch the Black Dog Virtual Retreat is designed to help you to discover the right ways for you to improve your mental health and create the happy life you desire and deserve.
It’s an online space where you can find support, healing, and hope, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year – even at 4am when everything feels darkest.
The most important thing you need to know about me is….
……I’m NOT your typical mental wellness mentor!
Oooh no!
My approach to ditching the black dog of depression is unique.
I’m a certified coach, counselor, and nature therapist specializing in the holistic management of depression.
But I’m also an intuitive Gaian Witch and Soul Healer practicing Therapeutic Witchcraft™.
Don’t be put off by the witchy ‘woo woo’ stuff, though. It’s the secret sauce to rediscovering how you can create a life worth waking up for!
After a decade of research, training and practice, I created The Gaian Trail™ which takes you on a journey through: –
🤯 modern neuroscience-based coaching and therapy tools;
🥗 simple and practical lifestyle changes;
💞 the rEVOLutionary ‘C’s of Change (these can transform your life in ways you probably can’t even imagine right now);
✨ a generous sprinkle of Gaian Magick™ (through Therapeutic Witchcraft™ healing rituals, ceremonies, spells, nature and animal assisted therapy, and much, much more);
to help you recover from depression in ways so simple they feel like they’re happening as if by magick!*
I battled depression for decades. The Gaian Trail™ didn’t just change my life – it saved it.
I’m here to show you how following the Gaian Trail™ can help you escape from the mental prison of chronic low mood and depression so you can feel healthy, happy and whole – whatever that means to you.
After the hell you’ve been through, isn’t it time you got to create the happy life you desire and deserve?
Are you tired of feeling the black dog of depression constantly nipping at your heels?
Here are some quick ways to find out more about me and my work.
Do you fancy ditching the black dog of depression here with me in Spain?
Come on a retreat or join a nature therapy session in the Costa Blanca area of Spain.
From the September Equinox to the Summer Solstice (June) every year, I offer a variety sacred circles, live events and retreats.
They’re centred around healing wounds, banishing blocks and manifesting the life you desire and deserve.
If you’re interested in finding out more about how my retreats and live events can help you to heal and thrive, please visit my main website: –
and visit the following page: –
*I believe in a fair, just, inclusive and equal society. This means that I aim to make my products and services accessible to all. I offer lots of free resources to help you get started and if you need financial help to access my paid programs, please contact me. Visit my Giving Back page to see how my business contributes to the planet and the Souls we share it with.
What do people say about working with me?
Here are some blog posts to help you get started.
You don’t need to subscribe to read them, but if you want to learn more, please subscribe to my Substack and you’ll be able to comment, join the chat and access some events you won’t find anywhere else.
Prefer to listen? Listen to the Ditch the Black Dog Podcast
About Maria Gaian
Maria Gaian knows firsthand the weight of lifelong depression - and the freedom of putting the 'black dog' into remission! After overcoming her own struggles, she made it her mission to help wounded Souls feel healthy, happy, and whole.
After over a decade of intensive study and research, Maria discovered that many sufferers don’t fully recover because traditional treatments only focus on managing or even suppressing depression, not healing its root cause.
Depression isn’t a standalone illness - it’s a symptom of deeper issues that need attention.
Determined to change the way we treat depression, Maria created The Gaian Trail™, a holistic and deeply personal approach that not only supports individual healing but also addresses the societal and cultural factors that contribute to mental distress. If you want to know more about Maria's other offerings, please visit www.mariagaian.com
Join my Substack to get my latest posts and podcast episodes. You can comment and join the chat.
