Table of Contents

Introduction Greg Nolan and William West Part I: Personal and Professional Identity

1. Reflections beyond Therapy: To Be or to Not-Be, is That the Question?
2. Bridget Tardivel
   
   
3. 'Magical' consciousness: An ancient god, synchrony, and anomaly in service of the ego.
4. David Smith & Friday Faraday
   
   
5. The immersion of the mermaid: A heuristic autoethnographic approach to working

6. therapeutically with active imagination and traumatic loss. Rachel Mallen

7. Self-identity, redefinition and the trans-relational quest for meaningful connection.
8. Phil Goss
   
   Part II: Culture and Personal Context
   
   
9. It's not all just psychology: Context, social class and counselling. Liz Ballinger
10. Confidence with Difficult Conversations: The need to explore taboo subjects in particular

11. relation to the sexual abuse of children. Barry O'Sullivan

12. Culture as a resource in the creation of meaning - Part One. George MacDonald
13. Culture as a resource in the creation of meaning - Part Two. George MacDonald
14. Part III: Practice Research
15. Hope is a rope: Living with a difficult present and an uncertain future. John Prysor-Jones
16. A Chocolate Santa: Imaging the liminal moment with reverie in research. Lynn McVey
17. Moments of deep encounter in listening relationships: Resisting limiting the interpretive frame

18. to enhance beneficial encounter. James Tebbutt

    Part IV: Clinical Practice
19. There is no horizon, this side or that side, of our own shadow: The relational (l)edge in clinical supervision. Greg Nolan
20. A dialogue with three voices: Therapist, interpreter, asylum seeker/refugee.
21. Lynn Learman
    
    
22. Beyond relationships - into new realms. Allison Brown
23. Client wisdom and holism in anthroposophic psychotherapy. John Lees
24. Dwelling on the edge. William West

In Conclusion. William West & Greg Nolan

About the Author

Greg Nolan is Visiting Lecturer in Counselling and Psychotherapy at the University of Leeds, MBACP Senior Registered Practitioner and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He has a teaching career spanning over 45 years and has research interests in the phenomena of micro-moments in practice and clinical supervision. He has published on therapeutic practice, clinical supervision and counsellor training.William West is a Visiting Professor to the University of Chester and Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Counselling Studies at the University of Manchester, where he was most noted for his interest in counselling and spirituality and for his work with doctorate and PhD students. He has published extensively and remains passionately interested in the overlap between counselling and religious pastoral care.

Reviews

"This is a book that inspires hope. Its contributors are, in their different ways, motivated by restlessness with a dysfunctional society and with the current state of the caring and therapeutic professions in Britain. From vantage points, often on the margin, they offer profound and pioneering reflections on theory, practice and research. Their combined efforts will encourage readers not to yield to the dispiriting trends which permeate our fractured society or to the straitjackets which increasingly threaten therapeutic creativity. It is refreshing to meet a group of writers who celebrate the whole person and have retained the vision of a more compassionate society." - Emeritus Professor Brian Thorne, University of East Anglia, UK; Lay Canon, Norwich Cathedral "In an age where the psychological therapies seem increasingly boundary-focused, it is a delight to read a book that allows you to breathe once again. Bringing together formidably articulate writers, Nolan and West facilitate the reader beyond the limitations of therapy and explore aspects of our work in a refreshing and engaging way. They demonstrate that while good helping is about being grounded in strong ethical practice, work that empowers and truly facilitates is informed by much wider horizons. An excellent and welcome read." - Dr Andrew Reeves, Chair of BACP. Associate Professor in the Counselling Professions and Mental Health, University of Chester, UK"This book takes readers on a refreshing journey of reflection, 'beyond' the customary 'packaged' mainstream ways of understanding counselling and psychotherapy (which are well-rehearsed and culturally-constrained), to alternative ways of thinking that are born out of the wisdom that comes from experienced practitioner-reflexivity and wider-informed practitioner development. Any therapist, who has grown beyond the bounds of defensive practice to become more grounded and authentic in their way of being and thinking with clients, will find resonances with, and permission-giving in, the text." - Professor Peter M. Gubi, Professor of Counselling, University of Chester, UK