Long-Term Counselling

Counseling can be a long-term process, whether by initial design or because of the emergence of new concerns within work originally planned as short-term or focused. Occasionally, counseling is long-term by default, when the counselor or client cannot face ending the therapy or when the counselor cannot find other ways of working with a client. Long-term counseling is frequently practiced, but until now little has been written about the complex and varied issues that can arise. Long-Term Counselling encourages trainees and practitioners to think about the day-to-day realities and issues of long-term work by identifying some working parameters and considerations for issues of definition, setting, and orientation. The book also focuses on assessing and managing the work and discusses the practical and emotional concerns that will require thought as the relationship between counselor and client is established, develops, or falters and ends. Detailed case studies are used to illustrate who might benefit from long-term counseling and give some sense of the nature of the relationships that may arise during long-term work. The authors also address the importance of evaluating, researching, and promoting this kind of counseling, and the emphasis throughout is on skilled, professional, and ethical practice. Long-Term Counselling will be a valuable guide for trainee and experienced counselors and psychotherapists.