Brazier reminds us that counselling often goes beyond offering a non-judgemental space in which the client can listen to and experience themselves, to actively encourage a kind of self-preoccupation which can actually make one more isolated and miserable.

Tags: Development & Supervision, listening, mindfulness, Person-Centred, therapy, Training, Development & Supervision

Seemingly aimed both at students and at internet-illiterates, this book provides fairly comprehensive coverage of the history and development of online counseling. As a practical guide or handbook, however, it lacks depth.

Tags: online therapy

Written by four luminaries of the mindfulness movement in psychotherapy and counselling, The Mindful Way through Depression is a self-help book in the best sense of the term, and you don't need to suffer from depression to find it useful.

Tags: cbt, depression, mindfulness, philosophy, Research

Comprehensive, clear and well referenced, this guide to the theory and practice of dealing with ambiguous loss — loss without closure — provides a realistic hope, not that we will “get over it”, but that it is possible to live with the uncertainty and the unknown.

Tags: bereavement, therapy, trauma

The Relational-Cultural approach makes a robust challenge to the assumptions of much therapeutic, psychological and philosophical theory, by understanding human growth not as a process of separation and individualisation but as a process of making connections.

Tags: abuse, feminism, objectivity, relational-cultural approach, therapy

This book achieves what it sets out to do: "to introduce readers to the rich tapestry of existential therapeutic approaches". I found it concise and easy to read, despite the fact that it deals with some fairly complex ideas. I found much in Mick Cooper's book of interest and have found myself using some of the therapeutic interventions he describes, with my own clients.

Tags: existentialism, introduction, philosophy, therapy

This is an impressive and very wide ranging introduction to the Person Centred Approach. It not only introduces the approach but adds new dimensions to the theory and new extensions of it into practice, reaching well beyond the counselling room walls.

Tags: Development & Supervision, introduction, Person-Centred, Rogers, therapy, Training, Development & Supervision

While suffering somewhat from a lack of focus on the book's intended themes, the individual contributions in this edited collection of 16 chapters nonetheless make worthwhile reading in and of themselves. (Review originally published in 2003.)

Tags: effectiveness, politics, Research, therapy

In terms of print resources designed to help individual clients navigate the wide range of counselling and psychotherapy options, this book is at or near the top of the list. Concise, comprehensible, and practical, it is probably one of the best investments a prospective client can make prior to beginning counselling.

Tags: effectiveness, introduction, therapy

This book provides an excellent overview of the primary theoretical approaches to counselling and psychotherapy as practised in the United Kingdom. Covering history, theory, primary client set and strengths and weaknesses for each of thirteen different approaches, the book makes an excellent starting point for exploring different schools of thought in more detail. (Review originally published in 2003.)

Tags: introduction, therapy