Too Immature for Counseling/Advice?

I think you answered it when you said that you have substituted and think you will love the job. It seems you have a real passion for what you are doing, and trust me that is the most important thing. It seems like you do have a lot of experiences. I’m sure you went through high school, and you can relate to the experience. You don’t need to face every problem that someone may come to you with in order to be helpful. That would be impossible. It seems like you have seen and experienced a lot. I think that if you finish your degree, which I totally agree is not the only thing but certainly important, you will be able to help. You can take from all of your own struggles with school to assist kids, you can use your experience of witnessing drugs to help someone see how they are affecting the people around them, you can use what you felt when someone close died to help anyone that has lost, whether through death or not, cope with that. I think that you have enough experience, and will gain so much more as you help people. Just keep up with the programs you have been involved in, get your degree, and most of all don’t let that passion die. That will be your key to success, as corny as the sounds. As long as you really want to help, you will. Good luck!