The Stresses of Counselling in Action

"The strains of training and supervising students, as well as being a trainee counselor oneself, can be taxing. This book provides a balanced view of the real-life issues that therapists must master to succeed, both professionally and personally." --Pierre Rioux in Academic Library Book Review "I think the great strength of this book lies in the analyses and its emphasis on empirical evidence. It should contribute to preventing and reducing stress in counselors and therefore to more effective counseling. . . . Overall, this is a clear-sighted, original, constructive book, written with lots of life, and I hope it is widely read and influential." --Rowan Bayne in Psychology Teaching Review "A better title for the book might be 'The Challenges of Counselling in Action', and this is what many of the contributors describe, often with clarity and insight. There is for instance Julia Segal on working with clients with disabilities, and Colin Feltham on counselling in private practice. Feltham is commendably open about the tensions between work and private life." --Jan Elson in Journal of Interprofessional Care To counsel effectively, therapists need to be relatively free from stress themselves. Stress can emerge in the work that counselors do with specific client groups, in the contexts in which counseling takes place, and in the educational process both for counselor educators and for counselors in training. The chapters in this book, all written by practicing therapists and counselors with first-hand experience of dealing with stress, outline the nature of the stress that counselors encounter, detail typical coping responses (both healthy and unhealthy), and suggest methods for improved coping. An opening chapter puts the others into context by reviewing the relevant research that has been carried out on this type of stress. Practical, supportive, and encouraging, the book's most important function is to make practitioners aware that they are not alone in experiencing stress, and to reassure them that successful coping methods are available. The Stresses of Counseling in Action provides an invaluable resource for both trainee counselors and more experienced practitioners of all approaches and disciplines.