Dorset veteran overcomes PTSD to help others with mental health

Dean Score was treated for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He has now received a diploma in therapeutic counselling - and is now helping others to recover from the trauma of war.

Dean served in the Army for seven years, including two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, before a specific incident left him with PTSD.

Dean served in Iraq and Afghanistan before an incident left him with PTSD (Image: Combat Stress)

Following successful treatment from veterans’ mental health charity Combat Stress, Dean spent five years securing the necessary qualifications to set up his own practice.

Dean, from Sturminster Newton, said: “It’s incredible to me that eight years after trying to take my own life, I’m a qualified therapist helping others.

“I feel so lucky and humbled to have been given the support to do this.

"Without Combat Stress, I would just be another veteran suicide statistic, and I certainly wouldn’t have achieved what I have.

Dean and wife Jenny (Image: Combat Stress)

"My wife sacrificed so much to support me, and I am so thankful to have her, as well as SSAFA, the Army Benevolent Fund and the Rifle Association for funding me through this process.

"Without them, I would never have been able to afford to do this and would have fallen at the first hurdle."

Dean left the Army in 2008, after beginning to struggle with his mental health. In denial, and worried he would appear ‘weak’, he ignored his symptoms for years.

Despite eventually being diagnosed with PTSD by his GP in 2012, his life continued to spiral.

He was drinking heavily at night and refusing to sleep as he knew flashbacks and nightmares would invariably follow. He also wasn’t eating well, and ended up in a coma for two days due to malnutrition and dehydration.

But it wasn’t until after Dean’s first marriage broke up in 2014 and the several attempts on his own life, that he realised he needed help and made the call to Combat Stress, a call that saved his life.

At the end of his treatment from the mental health charity, he was asked by a therapist what he wanted to do next with his life. Twenty-four hours later, he had his answer: ”I want to do what you do”.

Dean is now a qualified therapist and is helping fellow veterans with their mental health (Image: Combat Stress)

In 2018 Dean was officially given the greenlight, and deemed recovered enough, to pursue this aspiration.

Five years, a Level 2 in Counselling Skills, a Level 3 in Counselling Studies, a Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling and a new marriage later, Dean is fulfilling his dream of helping others.

He added: “It was an incredibly challenging process, and a long road to get to where I am, but now I can say ‘I am Dean Score, therapeutic counsellor, member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy,

"I have my own private practice and I support veterans who are struggling just like I once was.”