Eating disorder counsellors with eating disorder histories: a story of being "normal".

Debate exists in the eating disorders field about the fitness to practise of counsellors with eating disorder histories (Johnston, Smethurst & Gowers, 2005). Yet despite widespread acknowledgement of the demanding nature of eating disorder counselling in general (Zerbe, 2008), almost no research exists about the actual experiences of recovered eating disorder counsellors in particular. Using semi-structured interviews this study aimed to address the research gap by investigating the experiences of 7 counsellors with eating disorder histories.