[jayswin]

The absolute best thing for your son, imo, would be to get into the South Health Calgary Campus (new Calgary Hospital). Unfortunately, which hospital someone goes to after a recommendation from a GP is mostly up to your location and Calgary South Health Campus is known to be a cut above.

If you want more detailed info feel free to PM me as myself and another family member have been through this process. Basically you need to start at the GP level with an official recommendation from a doctor. Then you wait.....usually weeks to a couple months, then you go for an evaluation, orientation and then one on one treatment of illness (depression being one of them).

edit: without any info on your son, Edslunch, the biggest advice I can give is do not treat depression as a fad or standard teenager issue (It doesn't seem you are, as you've attempted therapy). Treat it as a potential mental illness and if it turns out not to be then great. If it is (and it often is) and it isn't diagnosed and treated properly that's where things can go south in a hurry.

Calgary South is excellent at diagnosing and understanding the difference between hard times and mental illness and working through it with patients. The biggest problem with treating depression is therapy and treatment ranges from "absolute ****" to "life changing" depending on where you get sent, and Calgary South Health Campus falls firmly in the latter category.