By All Accounts, She’s Happy To Lend An Ear

When Marita Nelson moved to Pinehurst in 1995, the Silver Valley phone book listed no private counselors.

She’s still nearly alone in her field.

“It’s funny, many places have pages and pages of counselors. For some reason, people are reluctant to move to this type of setting, where they’re needed so desperately,” said Nelson, a petite blonde who favors flowered skirts, sneakers, and pink-framed reading glasses from the Dollar Store.

Nelson came a long, roundabout way to fill this particular void. Born in Gernsheim, Germany, she squashed an early interest in social work to pursue a career as a tax accountant.

“My parents were self-employed; my father repaired ship engines. Social work didn’t go over too well with them. But accounting was considered a solid field,” she recalled.

At 18, she finished her apprenticeship in accounting and moved across the country to Augsburg, near Munich. There she dated a young man serving in the U.S. Air Force. When he received orders to return to the States, Nelson decided to marry him and go, too.

“My English was very, very bad,” Nelson said. “I was learning from an 800-word Charlie Brown dictionary and soap operas, and working as a maid. My husband laughed at me when I said I wanted to go to college.”

But enroll in college she did, and she soon made the dean’s list at the University of Northern Iowa, again in the field of accounting.

“I had to translate all the lectures, so by the time the tests came around, I really knew the material,” she said with a grin.

After graduation, Nelson worked with two friends to build a wholesale company specializing in inexpensive sunglasses. By the time she left the business, it was a $6 million operation covering 31 states.

Managing its accounts had been fun, but stressful. Divorced, Nelson decided to go back to Germany for a visit. She stayed to take a job with the Air Force, managing a sizeable civil engineering budget.

“I really enjoyed my work, but I was happiest when I was working with people,” she said.

Two factors convinced her that she was ready to make a career change.

The first was her work as a volunteer on an AIDS project. The second was a personal breakthrough.

“I had an anxiety disorder,” she said. “From the time I was 18, it was severe enough that I might have several panics a day. The treatment used to be tranquillizers, but that only made it worse. It was still going on in my early 30s. It would get better or worse, but I always had to fight it.”

Finally, at 35, a skilled counselor helped her to crack the heart of the problem.

“I finally understood what it was,” she said. “It was like a false alarm going off in my brain. Once I saw that, half the battle was over. Now anxiety isn’t even on my list of concerns.”

Experiencing how her counselor had helped her made Nelson want to do the same thing. Once again she moved back to the United States, enrolling in Naropa Institute, an accredited university in Boulder, Colo.

She did her internship at Larimer County Mental Health Center, working with disorders ranging from depression and anxiety to addiction, from psychotic episodes to manicdepression. At the same time, she was researching communities where she might like to serve, writing to chambers of commerce for information, and visiting several locations.

The Silver Valley won out.

“The housing was affordable, the scenery was gorgeous, and there was a need,” she said.

Nelson quickly became part of the fabric of the community. She set her fees on a sliding scale and provided free counseling on referral from local churches and the Women’s Resource Center.

“I don’t have plenty of pay, but I do have plenty of work,” she said with a laugh.

She’s encouraged by the number of men who come to her for counseling.

“They understand that they have anger or addiction problems, and they’re willing to do something about it. I think that’s wonderful,” she said.

In addition to her private sessions, she offers workshops in dream interpretation and the art of affirmation.

“I don’t believe in affirmations in the sense that if you say something 31 times, it will come true,” she said. “But the mind is very powerful, and creating a mind shift can have magical results.”

Nelson’s special field of interest is still chronic disorders like depression, and the anxiety disorder she personally overcame.

“I know what a challenge it can be for some people to even leave the house,” she said. “A lot of people put up with being miserable for years, but that’s not necessary.” She taps her chest. “I know. With the right treatment, things can very well change.”

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Bekka Rauve is a free-lance writer who lives in the Silver Valley. Panhandle Pieces appears every Saturday. The column is shared among several North Idaho writers.