The Client-Centred Therapist in Psychiatric Contexts: A Therapists Guide to the Psychiatric Landscape and Its Inhabitants - Softcover

As an enthusiast of the person-centred approach, and one who works in a psychiatric setting, I feel I have benefited immensely from reading this book. - I whole heartedly recommend it to person-centred counsellors and therapists seeking more of an understanding of psychiatric settings - I believe this should include all trainees and person-centred therapists. I share her opinion that 'psychiatry today is in dire need of a humanistic revitalisation'. This book will hopefully encourage others, as it has me, to embrace with her the challenge of working towards this. Rachel Freeth, HCPJ, April 2004. I read this book with several different hats on. As a counsellor trainer I thought this book offered a valuable way of bridging the gap between the medical model and client-centered therapy - As a counsellor with an integrative theoretical orientation, I found the author's classifications of client-centred therapists illuminating. - As a mental health nurse, this book introduced me to 'pre-therapy' first developed by Garry Prouty. - I think this is an invaluable book both for trainers and experienced counsellors working within a variety of settings. It has certainly left me feeling reflective on how I communicate my experience of empathically understanding the client. Victoria Cole, CPJ, March 2004. Sommerbeck's 30 years' of experience working in a psychiatric setting make this lucid book a must-read for anyone interested in working humanistically with clients who bear severe diagnoses or within institutions and systems. Kathy Moon, Person-centred pratitioner and academic.

Why do not more client-centred therapists work in psychiatric settings? Whatever the answer, this book is a solid attempt to pave the way for a greater involvement. Lisbeth Sommerbeck brings over 25 years' experience of working as a client-centred therapist in psychiatric contexts to her explanation of the psychiatric system and how to forge a working relationship with other staff. This is a positive bridge-building book, aiming to bring together two helping cultures that otherwise might see each other as hostile. With diploma and masters students in sight it should both widen placement possibilities, and encourage therapists to work in multi-disciplinary teams with confidence.