Personal Development in Counselling and Psychotherapy

This has been a valuable resource in supporting counselling certificate students in understanding the vital significance of the personal development of the therapist. The chapter focussing on 'trust and support for personal and professional growth' stimulated a particularly useful exercise for students involving application of the ethical principles of counselling and psychotherapy to themselves eg Am I being true to myself?(Fidelity). The chapter on 'reflective writing' was used to help students to think about ways that they might explore personal and course material in their learning journals. The 'therapeutic journey across cultural and linguistic borderlands' assisted exploration of working with difference in the therapeutic relationship. A useful resource for students and tutors.

Good book for exploring what personal development means/entails in counselling training. Will be recommending.

I have passed this text to the tutor who facilitates the experiential group ... very welcome and useful addition as there is a lack of material from this perspective.

Whilst personal development is often held up as the lynchpin of counselling development courses at level 4 and above there are comparatively few texts which provide a systematic and well-researched overview of what this is and how it may be effectively undertaken. Bager-Charleson's latest work does that and will be essential reading on BACP-accredited and other courses

This is a brilliant book! I am recommending it for my students because it clearly links reflective and reflexive practice and challenges practitioners to think creatively.