Anita Melin Counselling

Relationship Counselling Services

When you and your partner first met, you felt excited and happy. You experienced a wonderful connection with each other, and things felt so much easier than they are now. It felt like the “honeymoon” would last forever…

But this was before you had both experienced any significant challenges in your relationship.

Instead, you’re feeling disconnected and frustrated. The conflict has escalated, and whether you argue and have disagreements over parenting, managing the household, how you spend your free time, supporting each other, finances, or sex, things are starting to feel out of control. 

One of you tends to anger more quickly, while the other withdraws.

You might go for hours or days without speaking, and nothing ever seems to get resolved.  Many couples find themselves having the same argument over and over again, or avoiding important issues or talking about a sore spot in the relationship. 

You might have lost your romantic or intimate connection and feel more like roommates, and you’re trying to figure out whether you want to stay together. You’re both tired, frustrated, confused, angry and perhaps even worried that your relationship is beyond repair.

When you reach out to me for support, we will schedule our initial session together. I will learn about your relationship and the issues that have brought you here. Then, I will meet with you both individually to hear what is going on for you and what you hope to get from counselling. Finally, we will come back together in a joint session where I will give you my impressions and feedback and we will make a plan for moving forward in our work together.

In our work together, I draw from Gottman, Emotionally-Focused Therapy, Non-Violent Communication, and Attachment theory.

I work with couples who identify as:

  • Intimate partnerships
  • Primary partnerships
  • Committed partnerships
  • Common-law
  • Married
  • Poly relationships
  • LGBTQIA+ relationships

 

Throughout the course of therapy you can expect to gain a better understanding of the problems you face and begin to find a way out. You will begin fighting less, learn how to stay more calm, and feel safe with one another.

You and your partner will improve your communication and your ability to compromise, particularly around issues that have kept you gridlocked for a long time. You will develop a better understanding of your individual needs as well as your needs as a couple and begin to experience renewed hope for the future of the relationship.

As therapy comes to a close, you can expect to have healed the sore spots in your relationship, to be more compassionate with one another, to have more fun together and enjoy your time together, and experience greater intimacy and a more positive outlook on your relationship. 

Upcoming Course

Transform Your Workplace Conversations with NVC – $50

Date: Saturday, March 28th, 2026.
Town: Nelson, BC (in person).
Location: Nelson District Chamber of Commerce (91 Baker Street – Railway District).
Time: 9:30am – 12:00pm.
Bring: Note paper and pen,
Coffee, Tea, Snacks provided
Cost: $50 (per person).

Contact Anita to Register

Course Description

Workplace culture is shaped by how we communicate.

Explore the practical tools of NVC with Anita Melin, a registered clinical counsellor with the BC Association of clinical counselors, who has been operating a private practice counselling business in the Nelson BC area for more than 20 years at Open Door Communications. She had the good fortune to meet and train with the developer of NVC, Marshall Rosenberg, when working in India supporting communication clinics for grassroots organizations.

Our Communication Clinic introduces practical tools from Nonviolent Communication (NVC), a proven framework that helps leaders and employees express concerns clearly, listen with intention, and navigate conflict without blame. NVC shifts conversations from reaction to understanding — building trust, psychological safety, and stronger collaboration across teams.

Discover how NVC can transform the way your organization works — one conversation at a time.

NVC provides practical tools to:

  • Express concerns clearly without blame

  • Listen in ways that reduce tension

  • Understand underlying needs behind behavior

  • Respond rather than react under pressure