Meet Shelley Coates

Throughout my life, I have been intensely interested in the ways human beings interact with each other, especially in the non-verbal and subtle ways that couples communicate. Long before I became a registered counsellor, friends and colleagues would share their problems with me – helping them was something that I loved to do.

At the start of my counselling career, I worked with the BC Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BCSPCA), helping employees whose high-stress jobs were taking a toll on their relationships. During that time, I developed a special interest and expertise in helping people with emotionally demanding jobs improve their relationships.

Over the years, I have helped hundreds of individuals and couples heal their pain, change their negative patterns, and create the relationships and life they want. As a Registered Master Therapeutic Counsellor who specializes in the area of relationships, I have developed an approach and expertise that helps me to quickly identify the issues, suggest solutions, and work with clients towards real change.

I’m a relationship and couples counsellor with a passion for helping people get unstuck

I understand what it takes to make a love relationship succeed

Being a therapist fulfills a deep purpose in my life. I feel that in my own small way, I am helping to bring more compassion and empathy into the world, and contributing to the greater good. I have great empathy for the courage, honesty, understanding, and tolerance that is required to make a love relationship succeed. In the early years of my own marriage, my husband and I struggled – but with hard work, commitment, and the help of a couples therapist we created a happy, long-term marriage and family.

I believe humans struggle to be good, and that they do the best they can with the limits and level of awareness they have.

Counselling training

Diploma in Professional Counselling, Vancouver College of Counsellor Training, Vancouver BC
Developmental Model in Couples and Relationship Counselling – Certificate
Relational Life Therapy Level 1
Critical Incident Stress Management – Certificate of Training
Awareness Integration Therapy – Gestalt 1 – Certificate
Awareness Integration Therapy – Gestalt – Certificate
Awareness Integration Therapy – Certificate 3

Counselling memberships

Member of the Association of Cooperative Counselling Therapists of Canada Registration # 1021
Registered Counsellor with the Crime Victim Services Program of British Columbia

Ready to build a BETTER LOVE?

If you are ready to move beyond your relationship problems and create a better love, I offer both in-person and online counselling services, with offices in Ladner and White Rock, BC. Clients come to me from Ladner, Tsawwassen, North Delta, South Surrey, Richmond, and Langley – and meet me online from anywhere.

Appointment lengths and rates are shown in the first step of the online booking process.

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Questions?