Eagerly awaited by many counsellors and psychotherapists, this new edition includes an updated preface, new content on recent research and new developments and debates around relational depth, and new case studies.This groundbreaking text goes to the very heart of the therapeutic meeting between therapist and client. Focusing on the concept of ′relational depth′, the authors describe a form of encounter in which therapist and client experience profound feelings of contact and engag...

A practical resource that your students can return to again and again to guide and coordinate their pluralistic practice, it provides:Hands-on guidance to developing pluralistic practice: providing the tools, skills and practice frameworksA step-by-step understanding of how the ideas and methods of different orientations can contribute towards a pluralistic way of workingThe tools and understandings needed to work with clients to achieve ...

What does it mean to practice therapy in an existential way? What are the different existential approaches? What are their strengths and limitations?Focusing on practical, face-to-face work with clients, the book introduces students to six existential therapies, highlighting areas of commonality and difference, and discusses key figures and their contributions, includingYalom, van Deurzen, Spinelli, Frankl and Laing. It outlines the critical perspectives and key debates, and presen...

How important is the therapeutic relationship? Which therapists are most effective? How should therapy be personalised for individual clients?Essential Research Findings in Counselling and Psychotherapy answers these questions and many more by introducing contemporary research findingswithin the therapy field. The book sets out, in a jargon-free way, the evidence for the effectiveness of therapy and the factors associated with positive therapeutic outcomes, providi...

Mick Cooper and John McLeod pioneer a major new framework for counselling theory, practice and research - the ′pluralistic′ approach. This model breaks away from the orientation-specific way in which counselling has traditionally been taught, reflecting and responding to shifts in counselling and psychotherapy training.As accessible and engaging as ever, Cooper and McLeod argue that there is no one right way of doing therapy and that different clients need different things at diffe...

Written by a diverse range of expert contributors, unified by a relational, ethics-based reading of person-centred theory and practice, this seminal text is the most in-depth and comprehensive guide to person-centred therapy.Divided into four parts, it examines the theoretical, philosophical and historical foundations of the person-centred approach; the fundamental principles of person-centred practice (as well as new developments in, and applications of, person-centred clinical wo...

Recent evidence has shown that the successful setting of goals brings about positive outcomes in psychological therapy. Goals help to focus and direct clients' and therapists' attention in therapeutic work. They also engender hope and help energise clients. No longer are clients victims of their circumstances, but through goal setting they become people who have the potential to act towards and achieve their desired futures. Through the discussing and setting of goals, clients develop a de...

How can therapists integrate theories and practices from across the psychological therapies?This book presents a framework for understanding distress and change that can unite different orientations, along with sociopolitical perspectives.Its starting point is that therapy aims to help clients move towards the things they most deeply want. It shows how the actualisation of these ‘directions’ leads to greater well-being, and how this can be brought about through the developm...

This book is for trainees and practitioners across the orientations who wish to incorporate an existential approach into their practice. Using a pluralistic perspective that recognises the diversity of clients and their individual needs, it shows trainees how and when existential concepts and practices can be used alongside other approaches.A wealth of resources and the author’s writing style make this is one of the most accessible and inspiring introductions to existential therapy...

What is a therapeutic alliance? How do I create a bond? What might lead to the alliance breaking down? What do I do when the relationship feels stuck?These are just some of the questions addressed in this important new book for trainee and qualified therapists wanting to understand, engage in and make the most of the therapeutic relationship.Taking you through each stage of the therapeutic process, from initial boundary setting to effective endings, the book considers a num...

We live in troubled times: climate crisis, war and authoritarian ‘populism’ are just some of the challenges we are currently facing. Never has there been such a need for a new approach to politics – nor such an opportunity for one.To create a world in which people thrive, we need to know what thriving is. Over the past century, psychotherapy – and its parent discipline, psychology – has built up a vibrant, nuanced and highly practical understanding of human wellbeing and distress. ...

Are some therapies more effective than others? How important is the relationship? Which clients do best in therapy?Essential Research Findings in Counselling and Psychotherapy answers these questions and many more, providing trainees, practitioners and researchers with a comprehensive introduction to the latest findings in the field. The book sets out in a jargon-free way the evidence for the effectiveness of therapy and the factors associated with positive therape...