For the family beside the addiction
Codependency Counselling in Nanaimo
When someone you love is struggling with substance use, you carry it too. This is an hour that is about you - not a progress report on them.
- ✓For partners, parents & family
- ✓They do not need to be in recovery
- ✓In-person or virtual across BC
In person in Nanaimo · virtual across British Columbia
Written by The Counselling HUB · Reviewed June 2026
Codependency counselling at The Counselling HUB supports partners, parents, adult children, and siblings of someone struggling with substance use. The work untangles where you end and their addiction begins - boundaries, guilt, enabling, and the exhaustion of managing a situation you did not create.
Your Counsellors for Codependency Counselling
Qualified to provide codependency counselling in Nanaimo and virtually across BC.
Mary StasiukMSW, RSWTherapeutic Social WorkerAccepting new clients from Sept 14View Mary's profile
Kuldeep BasiMA, MACP CandidateClinical Counselling Practicum StudentWaitlist opens early 2027View Kuldeep's profile
Not sure who is the right fit? Contact our team and our team will match you.
This may be the right fit if you notice
- You can read the mood of a room in seconds but cannot say what you need
- Covering, checking, and smoothing things over has become a second job
- Guilt when you help, and guilt when you stop - with no version that feels right
- Your health, friendships, and plans have quietly moved to the bottom of the list
- A good week brings relief rather than rest, because you are braced for the next one
- You have stopped being able to tell what you want from what they need
How we work with you
Nothing here starts from the assumption that you should leave, or that you have done this wrong. The work is to separate your life from their use so that supporting them stops costing you yourself.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Meet the parts of you that rescue, monitor, and manage - and find out what each one has been protecting.
How this worksCognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Work on the anticipatory anxiety, catastrophising, and over-responsibility that keep you on alert.
How this worksEmotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
Understand the attachment needs underneath the pattern, especially when the person using is a partner.
How this worksWhat the work looks like
- 1
Your story, not theirs
The first session is about what this has cost you. No assessment of their use, no plan for fixing them.
- 2
Map the pattern
We trace where the rescuing and managing came from, what it was protecting, and what it now costs to keep doing.
- 3
Boundaries that hold
We work out the line between helping and enabling in your specific situation, and how to hold it without cruelty.
- 4
A life of your own
Grief for the relationship you expected has room here too, alongside rebuilding a life that does not run on their next decision.
Not sure if codependency counselling is the right starting point?
Contact our team to ask questions, discuss fit, and decide on the right next step.
✓ A good fit for
- Partners, parents, adult children, and siblings of someone using substances
- People whose loved one is not in recovery, not in treatment, and not asking for help
- Anyone who has spent years managing a situation they did not create
! When another path fits better
- The person whose own substance use is the concern - that is addiction counselling
- Situations involving ongoing violence, where safety planning comes first
"You did not cause it, and you cannot control it - but you can stop disappearing into it. That is the part we work on here.
If you are not sure where to start, you can also explore addiction counselling or family counselling or relationship issues. You can always contact our team to talk it through first.
Codependency Counselling - Common Questions
No. Your counselling is not conditional on their decisions. Many clients begin while the person they love is still using, still denying there is a problem, or refusing help entirely. The work is about your wellbeing and your patterns, which you can address regardless of where they are.
No. Codependency is a descriptive term rather than a clinical diagnosis in the DSM, and it is not a personality flaw. It describes a set of learned patterns - over-responsibility, self-erasure, and hypervigilance - that commonly develop when you love someone whose substance use is unpredictable. Patterns that were learned can be worked with.
No. Deciding whether to stay, set new terms, or step back is yours alone, and counselling does not carry a predetermined answer. The work is to make that decision from a clearer place rather than from exhaustion, guilt, or fear.
There is no universal line, which is exactly why it is worth working through. Broadly, helping supports a person’s own capacity while enabling absorbs the consequences of their use on their behalf. In sessions we look at your specific situation rather than applying a rule, because the same act can be either depending on the context.
This service is for you as an individual, which is often the point - it is one hour that is not about managing anyone else. Where it would help, family sessions can be arranged separately through family counselling, and the two can run alongside each other.
Mary Stasiuk, MSW, RSW, works with loved ones of family members struggling with substance use and the related codependency concerns, drawing on Internal Family Systems, CBT, and Emotionally Focused Therapy. Sessions are available in person in Nanaimo and virtually across British Columbia.
No. Addiction counselling supports the person whose substance use is the concern. Codependency counselling supports the people around them. Some families use both, with different counsellors, so each person has a space that belongs to them.
This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact the 9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline at 9-8-8.
You Do Not Have to Figure This Out Alone
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