Addiction & Trauma Counselor - Vancouver -Alcohol & Drug Abuse; Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; War Trauma

8 Ways to Enhance Emotional Sobriety

About Sue Diamond Potts

My Early Years

My interest in becoming an addiction and trauma counselor developed, in part, from my early life experiences. As if growing up in a violent alcoholic family was not enough to endure, both of my parents had also lived through WWII in Europe. They suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, although there was no such classification at the time. The unresolved stress and trauma they carried into our family was passed down and very present in my own life. I was to spend many years following in my father’s footsteps and numbing my emotional pain with alcohol and drugs.

Becoming a Therapist

I didn’t comprehend it at the time, but my career began to take shape when, as a young adult I took a volunteer position helping troubled youth. I realized I had a deep desire to help people overcome their self-destructive behaviors, most likely because I could identify with them myself. This propelled me to complete my Bachelor’s degree in psychology. I wanted to understand the effects of unresolved war trauma and addiction in my own life and others’ lives.

It was during my graduate training in Counselling Psychology that I met a therapist who was a mentor and who placed me on my healing path. She helped me realize that to be the most effective with my clients I had to ensure that my own healing came first. In my Master’s Degree, I explored the inter-generational effects of war trauma and unresolved post traumatic stress on second generation children. In addition, I spent years uncovering, discovering and healing the effects of alcoholism and multigenerational trauma in my own life. I appreciate today that healing is an on-going, life-long process of growth which I am fully committed to. The emotional distress I inherited as a child has been transformed and replaced by a sense of joy, confidence and a love for life.

My Professional Background and Credentials

I work with a multi-ethnic clientele, and am sensitive to the unique issues of immigration, cultural self-hate, and the intergenerational effects of war trauma, childhood abuse, alcohol and drug abuse or other addictive behaviors.

I offer over 25 years experience in the counselling field and a lifetime of experience with trauma and alcohol and drug abuse.

I have a great passion for the work that I do and I am committed to helping others heal from the emotional aspects of addiction and trauma.

My Extensive Clinical Training includes:

Self Regulation Therapy® - Foundation and Advanced Level – Cdn. Foundation for Trauma Research and Education
Psychological Anatomy – A Psycho-neuro-physiological Understanding of Developmental Stages – Cdn. Foundation for Trauma Research and Education
The Psychophysiology of Addiction, Trauma and Recovery – Dr. C. Nuckols; and Canadian Foundation for Trauma Research and Education
A Developmental Approach to Couples Counselling – Dr. Ellyn Bader and Dr. Pete Pearson @ The Couples Institute
The Mindful Therapist: Psychotherapy from the Inside Out. Dr. Daniel Siegel
Certificate in Psychoanalytic Study – Northwest Alliance for Psychoanalytic Study
Certificate in Substance Abuse Treatment and Gambling Addiction
Advanced training in Critical Incident Stress Debriefing – Dr. Jeffrey Mitchell
The Treatment of Adult Children of Alcoholics – Jane Middleton-Moz; Dr. Claudia Black
Grief, Mourning, Death and Loss – Dr. Terese A. Rand

I am a Registered Clinical Counsellor and member in of the British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors.

If you are interested in how you can heal from addiction
and/or trauma, please don’t hesitate to call me.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Sue Diamond Potts, M.A., R.C.C.
Registered Clinical Counsellor, (#178)