Contents:

• Features
  • The poetry of therapy

    • Is there something we can all learn from the writing of poetry which would encourage us to become more creative counsellors and psychotherapists?

  • The right to die: law and ethics

    • In September a consultation paper was issued setting out the interim policy that should apply for prosecutions in cases of assisted suicide. Barbara Mitchels and Andrew Reeves reflect on the relevance of the policy for therapists

  • The creative process

    • The human capacity for creativity cannot be tested or measured, but it would seem to be central to the process of positive therapeutic change. Roni Beadle explores some definitions of creativity from an integrative perspective

  • Strange relationship

    • Dwight Turner explores the link between prejudice, narcissism and individuation, and finds that prejudice may well be a key to recovering much of who we are

  • Suicide, survivors and supervision

    • From a community traumatised by six suicides in a year, Linda Eke reflects on the impact of suicide on counsellors working with survivors of the deceased

  • Cover feature

    • The Human Givens approach is building evidence and its ideas are rapidly extending into the public and private sectors. So why is it sometimes met with suspicion from within the counselling and psychotherapy profession?

• Regulars
  • Columns
    • Client column - Wanting to leave

      • I’ve had a three-week break. My therapist has been away. Have I missed her? No, not really. It’s been a relief not to have to unpack all my emotional baggage for a bit

    • Student column - Where are the experts?

      • I can remember my mum passing on a golden rule when I had lost her in the covered market. I was small and, tempted by the toy stall

    • Therapist column - Life beyond the iPhone

      • As I was sitting in the traffic in Liverpool city centre recently, the dulcet tones of the Today programme were drifting around my car. Murder here, war there, financial crisis over there – that depressingly familiar start to the day

  • News
    • NHS couple counselling plans ‘alarming’

      • Government plans to offer couple counselling on the NHS for people with depression are ‘heart-warming in some ways, and alarming in others’, say leading therapists working with children, couples and families

    • Health minister pledges that IAPT will be ‘fully formed’ service

      • At the third Psychological Therapies in the NHS conference at the end of November, health secretary Andy Burnham said that IAPT services stand or fall on the choice of therapies they can offer clients

    • The benefits of early intervention

      • Commenting on the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health report, ‘Chance of a Lifetime’, which says that 80 per cent of all crime is committed by people who had conduct problems as children

    • Rise in use of ‘quick fix’ drugs

      • Growing numbers of parents are turning to drug remedies for a ‘quick fix’ solution to their children’s mental disorders, figures show

    • Online LGBT counselling service launch

      • Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) has launched Connect Online Counselling, a new online counselling service for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community nationwide

    • Still waiting: mental health

      • Commenting on plans to enshrine NHS waiting times in law, Mental Health Network director Steve Shrubb said: ‘Over 12 per cent of the NHS budget is spent on mental health

    • IAPT gets positive results

      • A study of an Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme published in the British Journal of Clinical Psychology

    • Bullying link to eating disorders

      • Almost half of young people with eating disorders believe bullying contributed to their illness, it is claimed

    • Training soon to be available online

      • Mental health awareness training will be available online next year for all professionals who work with children

    • NICE plans to reduce health costs

      • The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has produced an online calculator that tells employers how much they could save by improving line management and working conditions

    • New anti-suicide strategy unveiled

      • The Welsh Assembly Government’s 'Talk to Me' programme

         

  • Editorial

    • In our cover feature Julia Bueno explores the Human Givens approach which by all accounts is gaining momentum across mental health services and beyond. MindFields College, the organisation behind Human Givens

  • Letters
    • Games regulators play

      • ‘The main thing to fear,’ says Jeremy Clarke in Question Time (Therapy Today, November 2009), ‘is not being on the playing field in the first place.’

    • Them and us

      • ‘I think that Emma Munro’s client column demonstrates that far more goes on in therapy than we therapists are aware of…’

    • Confusing book review

      • As a supervisor and trainer I approached the review of the book by Penny Henderson on Supervisor training: issues and approaches with interest

    • Problems with the word ‘accredited’

      • I am writing to ask if you would consider giving some serious thought to changing the terminology by which some therapists are officially designated as having reached a higher level of experience and (maybe) skill.

    • Essential viewing

      • Reading Kevin Chandler’s review of In Treatment, I could not agree with him more

    • Protecting vulnerable groups

      • Recently I described the new Vetting and Barring Scheme that is gradually being brought into force in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, underpinned by the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006.¹

    • Choice explored

      • It was with great delight that I read Wendy Jefferson’s article, ‘The Illusion of Choice’, in the July issue of Therapy Today

  • Questionnaire
    • Windy Dryden

      • For Windy Dryden the idea of perfect happiness is to watch Arsenal win the Champions League with his wife by his side

  • Marketing Toolbox
    • It's a wrap

      • In her last column Clare Jones has news of a free coaching service

  • Day in the Life

    • As head of counselling at SignHealth, Hazel Flynn manages a team of therapists addressing the specialised counselling needs of deaf people

  • Reviews
    • Memoirs of mental illness

      • Hurry down sunshine: a father’s memoir of love and madness, Michael Greenberg, Bloomsbury 2009, £12.99, ISBN 978-0747591481
        
        Sectioned: a life interrupted, John O’Donoghue, John Murray 2009, £16.99, ISBN 978-1848540125
        
        Voluntary madness: my year lost and found in the loony bin, Norah Vincent, Chatto & Windus 2009, £12.99, ISBN 978-0701181772

    • Making sense of ASD

      • Can the world afford autistic spectrum disorder? Nonverbal communication, Asperger syndrome and the interbrain, Digby Tantam, Jessica Kingsley 2009, £16.99, ISBN 978-1843106944

    • Practitioner’s guide to CBT

      • Simply effective cognitive behaviour therapy: a practitioner’s guide, Michael J Scott, Routledge 2009, £19.99, ISBN 978-0415466776

    • Mindfulness in organisations

      • Mind-ful consulting, Sue Whittle and Karen Izod (eds), Karnac Books 2009, £20.99, ISBN 978-1855756960

    • Working with families

      • Child-centred attachment therapy: the CcAT programme, Alexandra Maeja Raicar, Karnac Books 2009, £20.99, ISBN 978-1855755055

    • Treating psychic distress

      • A straight talking introduction to psychological treatments for mental health problems, David Pilgrim, PCCS Books 2009, £8.99, ISBN 978-1906254162

    • Reflections on supervision

      • A different wisdom: reflections on supervision practice, Penny Henderson, Karnac Books 2009, £20.99, ISBN 978-1855756144

    • A mother’s story

      • Psychosis in the family: the journey of a psychotherapist and mother, Janet C Love, Karnac Books 2009, £16.99, ISBN 978-1855755208

    • Correction

      • In October 2009 Therapy Today, while editing the review of The Secret Scripture, the sense of part of the review was unintentionally rendered incorrect

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      • Particpate in research

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• BACP
  • BACP News
    • BACP News

      • News from your Association

  • BACP Professional Conduct
    • Findings, decision and sanction
    • Withdrawal of membership
    • Withdrawal of membership
    • Sanction compliance
  • BACP Professional Standards
    • Professional standards

      • Newly accredited counsellors/psychotherapists

  • BACP Research
    • Groundbreaking research clinic to open

      • The first counselling and psychotherapy research clinic in England opens in the New Year, bringing an opportunity to gain new therapeutic insights

    • With thanks from the Research Department

      • We would like to thank all colleagues who have worked with us and supported the BACP research agenda this year

    • NHS research funding opportunities

      • News about the NHS research funding opportunities at the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Conference in November 2009