What is counselling?

Title
What is counselling?
Publication Date
2006
Author(s)
Bowers, Randolph
Editor
Editor(s): Nadine Pelling, Randolph Bowers, Philip Armstrong
Type of document
Book Chapter
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Thomson
Place of publication
Melbourne, Australia
Edition
1
UNE publication id
une:9175
Abstract
Chapter 1, 'What is counselling' by Randolph Bowers provides a narrative reflection on the status of the field from several perspectives. These include: • an examination of values associated with professional practice and professional status; • analysis of issues of power, influence, and control in therapy; • engagement with a critical sociological perspective on the field; and • sharing a vision for what counselling could be when at its best. The author speaks with an up-front and personal voice, much like he is speaking directly to his students in discussions. The text flows from practical personal suggestions for practitioner's keeping of a journal, to questions of meaning and philosophical reflection, to raising complex and difficult issues that may arise over the course of one's career as a counsellor. While the chapter does not necessarily foreground issues of self-care for students and practitioners of counselling, the reader may get the sense that the author has taken time out to reflect, consider, and ponder his stance towards many issues. This provides the reader with an example of reflexivity in action (or a balanced critical self-analysis), where we do not necessarily have all the answers, nor do we know what the outcome of our analysis will become. The author would suggest that the most important part of the process of learning is the experience of questioning itself - and that is only one more part of a process that is ongoing. This indeed is the practice of counselling.
Link
Citation
The Practice of Counselling, p. 2-35
ISBN
0170129780
0170131394
9780170129787
9780170131391
Start page
2
End page
35

Files:

NameSizeformatDescriptionLink