Why I don’t want to be a counselor

I recently finished all the work necessary to earn a master’s degree in counseling – 48 credit hours of master’s level counseling classes, plus a 700 hour UNPAID internship. (In contrast, an MBA at the same school consists of 30 credit hours and no internship!) I’ve been plugging away at this degree part-time for three years at my local respectable private university since January 2006. I’ll be getting my diploma in a few weeks. Yet I don’t plan on working as a counselor. I hadn’t always not planned on working as a counselor, so I thought maybe I would provide an explanation.

Short version:

I believe that most mental illnesses are caused or significantly exacerbated by aspects of modern lifestyle – nutritional deficiencies, poor sleep, chronic stress, even poor physical development of the skull. Without a dietitian’s license or medical degree, though, I cannot ethically advise clients on how changes in lifestyle can improve their mental health, or refer them to medical specialists for specialized tests or procedures. And I’ve already discovered that working with patients who would obviously benefit from significant lifestyle changes, but being unable to discuss this with them except in the most general terms, is very frustrating. So I would much rather not work as a counselor, than work within the considerable constraints of the current counseling bureaucracy.

Longer version:

I believe, now, that behavioral dysfunction is often a symptom of a physical illness rather than a disease in and of itself. I did not have much awareness of lifestyle influences on mental health, however, when I started my coursework three years ago. I certainly was not taught anything about the influence of lifestyle factors on mental health in my counseling classes, beyond perhaps some general observations on the detrimental effects of high or prolonged stress. I get the impression that most counseling theories were formulated with the assumption that every other aspect of the lives of mentally ill people is in good shape, except their behavior and sometimes their relationships. However, my own personal experience with improving my physical health, and feeling better mentally and emotionally as a result, contradicts that assumption.

I also had the good fortune to do much of my internship at an inpatient treatment facility, where I had greater access to patients’ medical information than I would have had in most other internship environments. Almost every patient admitted to the inpatient facility had some sort of medical problem in addition to their mental illness. Many were overweight or obese, and many were also given prescriptions for sleeping medication due to chronic sleep problems. Many already had prescriptions for chronic health problems.

It’s unfortunate that conventional health care draws such a thick black line between physical health and mental health, acting as if the two are almost completely independent of each other. In truth there’s so much overlap between the two that truly effective health care needs to treat both types of health as essentially interdependent.

I wish I could refer people to some great websites or a book or two that summarize the above ideas neatly in some easily digestible reading, but no such website or books exist. I can only provide some general references that you can go browsing around in, where you may draw your own conclusions.

Weston A. Price Foundation – nutrition information

The blog of Dr. Michael Eades – co-author of “Protein Power” books

This is not to say, though, that counselors can do no good within their current restraints. A good counselor can do a lot of good – plenty of research shows the effectiveness of good counseling in helping people who want to feel better. I enjoyed studying counseling and learned a great deal about people and especially about myself that I might not have learned otherwise. I met a lot of great people too, and working on my master’s degree was overall a good experience that I don’t regret. I hope to do a post sometime soon on why studying counseling is a great idea.

But more than anything I want to be an effective counselor, which for me means looking at the person as a whole, instead of just as a mental or emotional being. This is not to criticize the many, many good people out there who choose to work within a narrower focus; I’m simply saying it does not satisfy me. I’m not ruling out the future possibility of pursuing further education, say, a nutrition degree of some sort, but right now, I’m sick of academia! Especially homework!

So, I will be living off my husband’s dime for awhile, as I take a few fun art classes at my local friendly community college, and do a little part-time work. I’m very grateful that I have this opportunity to continue avoiding the full-time rat race. I really married a great guy!

Tags: counseling, health, mental health

Uncategorized | Angel | January 6, 2009 3:13 am

5 Comments

By Lisa Sargese, October 29, 2009 @ 2:12 am

I’m hoping to get a certification as a Nutritional Therapist to complement my counseling degree. I too cannot treat symptoms in isolation! Great post and very encouraging!!
By Lisa Sargese, October 29, 2009 @ 2:13 am

Oh and here’s the link if you want to check it out… http://ntptalk.com/ntp-training.php
By Angel, October 29, 2009 @ 5:56 pm

Thanks for the link! That looks like a great nutritional program. I’m not willing to commute to CT or NV to do the onsite requirements for the distance learning program, though. I hope they’ll eventually offer it in the Midwest.

I’ve subscribed to your blog, but I don’t have a Google account (or any of the other accounts they ask for) so I can’t leave comments on your blog. Otherwise, I would have said thanks there.

Angel
By Melissa Conory, February 8, 2010 @ 12:06 am

http://www.sensustraditionis.org/

Hi Angel,

This is Melissa Conroy from St Rose’s. I read this blog the other day and I couldn’t agree with you more. I was wondering if you had ever heard of Fr Chad Ripperger a.k.a Fr R? He has published some amazing work on modern psychology. He currently working on a book on the difference of the masculine and feminine natures and the virtue of modesty. His talks are wonderful I think, and he has a dream of opening a mental health center that will have three parts, one for nutrition, one for Thomastic counseling and one strictly for the spiritual aspect, like deliverance prayers and such. If it ever opens I would love to work there.
Well, just thought I’d share Fr R’s site with you
God love ya,
Melissa
By Angel, February 8, 2010 @ 4:25 pm

Wow, that counseling center sounds awesome! I want to work there too! (if it’s in the Quincy area) I do think it is a terrible mistake to overlook the significant contribution that a good diet makes to mental health. You can read about how traditional diets support mental health at the Weston A Price Foundation website: http://www.westonaprice.org/ (the search function is in the right hand column; just type in “mental health” and you’ll find all kinds of stuff.)

Do you have a copy of Fr. R’s book? If you do, can I borrow it sometime? I won’t keep it too long! I’d just like to check it out.

The world needs a lot more books about the virtue of modesty! One of my favoritest books ever is “A Return to Modesty” by Wendy Shalit. I think I underlined about half of that book! I’ve always been modest and nowadays that’s the same thing as saying “repressed”. I know cultural trends are cyclical, so modesty will come back around to being a virtue again, but I most certainly bucked the trend there.

Divine Mind

musings by Angel