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!