Hi all, I was curious as to whether anyone here had suffered from a mental illness in the past and has gone on to become a mental health care professional? I consider myself to be fully recovered from depression, and with help from my therapist I am exploring the avenues to become a Mental Health Nurse. Any advice would be really welcomed! Thanks, Amy 
hi Amy,i havent but if you feel strong enough mental and physically then go for it,you can do anything you want in life so if your ready go for it and i wish you good luck in the future.
Thanks for your kind words Jean
Hi Amy, You'll make the best kind of mental health nurse because you have first hand experince :-) Love and hugs to you <3 :D
Thanks Tersia03817, thats very sweet of you
Hi, iamatherapist, only just noticed that your reply has been deleted. Very strange! Wondering whether you posted a link or email address in your reply, as I am pretty sure they get rid of posts like that.
Amy
Hello Amy-Lou,
thank you for your reply. I did provide you with a link that is why my last message as deleted.
I am a private practitioner in counselling/life coaching/therapy. For many years I too had 'issues' and these blighted my life. Since overcoming them I did several courses to qualify in MH and I have no rerets about where I am today.
The hard work you put in now will pay off in the future.
To me the best therapists/nurses are those of us who have been there and experienced what our clients are going through.
I'm sure you will do well in your chosen field and I wish you all the success that comes with good knowledge and experience.
Nick
Hi iamtherapist, I thought that was probably the reason why it was deleted. Thank you for letting me know there are people out there that can succeed and use their negative past experiences in a positive way.
I'm really hopeful for the future and working hard to put my personal statement together for my university application.
All the best, Amy
Hi,
Yes! If it's what you want, go for it! for myself having mental health problems have actually aided my career. I have bipolar, suffer from pychosis and am almost through recovery for anorexia, and have been working as a mental health recovery worker for nearly a year and hope to get into clinical psychology.
If anything look at it as you already have the experience many people will appreciate you so much for; first hand experience rather than book knowledge. It can be a struggle some days but I have always found colleagues to be very supportive. There are even a number of CPN's with mental health issues and my service users have always found these to be more supportive.
Good luck and I hope you do well!
Hi Amy_May, thanks so much for your words of encouragement. It's really good to know that there are other people out there who are working in these kind of jobs who have similar backgrounds to myself. I'm almost finished with my application, so sending it soon. Got my fingers crossed!
Good luck back at you with plans to do clinical psychology
Amy