A VETERAN who overcame PTSD has qualified as a counsellor, eight years after he tried to take his own life.

Dorset Army veteran Dean Score, who served for seven years, received his diploma in Therapeutic Counselling and has began supporting fellow veterans.

Dean's service included two tours to Iraq and one to Afghanistan but a specific incident left him with post-traumatic stress disorder.

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

Bournemouth-based Redlands will be expanding to the Salisbury area in early 2025. 

He 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 Score.Dean Score. (Image: Redlands)

Praising his wife who "sacrificed so much", Dean added: "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’, Dean 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 Combat Stress, Dean 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”.

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.