This question came up when a prospective client questioned my qualifications to practice psychotherapy and at the same time counsel her on her nutritional needs.

I've had others allude to this fact and haven't given it much thought because I've always tried to insure that people realized I was not presenting myself as a healthcare professional. I work at making it a habit to tell people I can only listen to their concerns and then share with them what I've learned from personal experience and from helping others. I only act as a guide in this work.

After she left, I thought about our conversation for some time and these are some of the facts as I see them on how my work and the purpose of this company may have differed had I had the opportunity and the willingness to invest the significant amount of money and time required to receive my education in a formal setting, and get my degree.

The following is a list of the differences and similarities this company would be in a position to offer.

As a student in a formal setting, I would have had to conform to the thoughts and teachings of my predecessors. Had I accepted their teachings and beliefs, I know I'd have been rather aggressive in my work (after all, I have my degree so I must be right). I say this because it has been my practice most of my life. I also suspect I would have been rather reluctant to try, or even consider new ways of doing this work. On the other hand I can be tenacious, a strong characteristic of mine is to keep digging when I am seeking an answer to a particular concern or problem, even if it takes years. Example: I have been studying in this field of inquiry since the late seventies and I am still learning. I am learning fascinating things about how our mind and body functions, both separately and together.

·Earlier, there would not be any room for “alternative practice” as I can still remember my attitude towards such ideas when I was younger. I would have had a traditional approach to most of the concerns that are brought to my attention. I say this because of my persistence in making the members of my family seek good medical advice when I was much younger. I was convinced, at that time, that western medicine was superior to any other form healing being practiced in the whole world. Only through time and observation, was I able to understand that I was so wrong it was embarrassing.

·I suspect that I would have been very reluctant to ever combine nutrition and psychology. My fear is that I'd not have been willing to stretch that far for fear of being looked at as "being out of my field of expertise".

· I am most comfortable when I can appear to have some sense of confidence in what I am sharing with someone. Not having a degree in both fields would have been a hindrance for me. Having a degree in both fields is too much to ask, as I am sure I would have never been willing to consider the possibility of nutrition and psychology having common ground. (This may have been my rational of such a suggestion: "After all, one concerns the head and the other deals with the trunk of the body. Where in the world could a person find common ground under those circumstances"?)

· Lastly, I must confess that the name of this business would not have been "Dancing Algae Co". You have no idea how much I struggled with having that title as the company name. There is a part of me that dislikes the name, yet there is another part of me that was adamant about that being the name of this company. I still find myself feeling it is a bit childish (juvenile) for the name of my company. Oh well!

So there is a picture of what would be had I had a traditional education, followed all the rules and dictates of my instructors and peers, and had completed my training in a traditional educational manner.

What I find amusing as I contemplate this scenario is the fact that I'd probably be dead by now because I'd been so set in my ways, I'd have never been willing to try something this different and my inablilty to digest my food would probably have killed me (One of my biggest challenges when I was younger was... indigestion).

You have to admit; the material I share with you today is pretty far from the middle of the road in any traditional thinking or health-care practice. And what is even more fun is the fact that I keep finding ways to feel even better that I did yesterday. I guess this is what makes life so much fun for me.

Love and Light to each of you,

Bill Cooper EFT CC, Ph W. Nutritional Psychotherapist