Practical Ethics in Counselling and Psychotherapy
A Relational Approach
- Linda Finlay - The Open University
Are you sometimes challenged by how to apply ethical principles in your own practice? Looking to understand what ethical practice can look like from different theoretical standpoints?
Linda Finlay takes you on an exploration of ethical therapeutic practice. She highlights how therapeutic decisions depend on the social and relational context and vary according to your theoretical lens. She provides you with guidance on how to engage in therapy relationally while remaining professional, ethical and evidence-based.
Split over three parts this book takes you through:
- The Context of Relational Ethics - introducing you to the foundational ideas, and considering how professional codes are applied within therapy
- Relational Ethics within the Therapeutic Relationship – exploring the complex judgements demanded by the therapeutic process, and looking at how therapy needs to be situation specific
- Relational Ethics in Practice – five extended, fictional case studies demonstrate relational ethics in practice, and discuss the issues raised.
Rather than relying on a set of ethical “rules” Linda Finlay is constantly reminding psychotherapist, counsellor, and coaches to question our actions: “Is my behaviour beneficial to this particular client’s welfare, at this point in time, and in this context?”
Linda Finlay's new contribution to the helping professions is simply a relational jewel! A beautiful rare example of how practical ethics unfolds and is shaped through the context and its participants.
Her brilliant jewel throws a clear but sensitive light on the many facets of our ethical life and opens up really helpful directions in philosophical, theoretical and practical realms. This book is a gift to students, researchers and practitioners alike!
For the more advanced therapist it will be a well written, rich and stimulating companion that is deeply cherished.
This book uses an engaging, informative approach to ethics rarely found within the field of counselling and psychotherapy. Linda Finlay uses her own experiences alongside those of others to offer in-depth explorations of and how ethics ‘dance and weave around us’ in the ‘vibrant immediacy of the relational context’ within which we live and work: a wonderful, rich, tapestry for practitioners at all stages.
This is an important contribution to counselling and psychotherapy. As always, Linda Finlay writes about complex processes in both an accessible and inspiring way. I have found her book refreshing and thought-provoking and can see it becoming a classic for all therapists looking for Ethical guidance
Linda Finlay is to be congratulated on this remarkable, well written and much needed book on not only practical but also relational ethics. It offers a vast amount of material and examples which reflect the complexities, challenges as well as new perspectives which inform ethical and contemporary relational practice.
The author highlights how therapeutic decisions depend on the social and relational context and vary according to your theoretical lens... Finlay provides guidance on how to engage in therapy relationally while remaining professional, ethical and evidence -based.
This is an informative and detailed text which takes a critical approach to the topic of ethics in counselling, and would be a useful read for anyone with an interest in the field.
This book presents ethics in clinical practice, considering situations that psychotherapists will meet with their clients. As well as giving clinical examples, the reader is invited to think through given situations. This is helpful for both students and practitioners.
Sage College Publishing
