It is great advantage for a counsellor to have had your own problems, however so long you cannot resolve your particular problems, you won't be able to help others with similar problems. Before I became a professional counsellor I had heaps of problems, mainly in the area of depression, OCD, PTSD, anxiety attacks, drug addiction, with a couple of suicide attempts to boot. It ruined the first 37 years of my life. I went to the uni and studied psychology in the hope of helping myself. It did not help. I then joined a Counselling training course and then became a drug counsellor. But soon I went into an entirely different direction from what I was taught. I studied nutritional biochemistry and discovered that I was hypoglycemic that was responsible for most of my symptoms. I cured my problems within about three months time. Working with nutritional doctors I found out that most of clients were also hypoglycemic. Consequently I was able to help about 80% of my clients, who were given up as lawful citizens of their society.

Please read:

The Forgotten Factor in the Crime Debate

Thus I develop a therapeutic program that was based on a combination of Nutritional Biochemistry and Psychotherapy, where the biochemistry took precedence over psychology. (Biochemistry before psychology)

Back in the 80's I explained my approach in a book called Getting off the Hook.

I was soon employed as Probation and Parole Officer, where I ran groups for drug addicts and people with a wide variety of mood disorders. NNote that over 75% of prisoners are mentally ill. The popularity (and I may say treatment success) of my program with prisoners - drug addicts and others - soon got me into conflict with the powers that be and mainly controlled by the medical union and psychologists. The saga has been explained here.

We then founded the Hypoglycemic Health Association of Australia, a charitable organisation of sufferers of mental illness with the aim of educating the public and the health care practitioners of the relationship between mental illness and Hypoglycemia.

I am a new member of this discussion board and I have no idea whether my alternative psychonutritional views on counselling are welcome. I guess I will soon find out.