Contents:

• Features
  • Counselling for depression

    • Following IAPT’s decision to include counselling within the range of psychological therapies it offers, Peter Pearce, Ros Sewell, Andy Hill and Helen Coles describe the development of an evidence-based framework of competences and a curriculum to train practitioners in working with clients with depression

  • Reconstructing masculinity

    • Men must be able to explore all their feelings – including aggression and violence – in therapy without being judged if they are to move towards positive change, argues Manu Bazzano

  • Measuring outcomes

    • Nic Streatfield considers the reasons why some therapists are resistant to the routine collection of outcome measures with their clients, and discusses some ways to overcome this

  • Cover feature

    • As the City of London confronts financial meltdown, Leslie Chapman explores the impact on mental health of working in such a competitive environment

• Regulars
  • Columns
    • In the client's chair – Burden of hope

      • Once, during a particularly trying period in my 20s, I was accosted at an extended family gathering by an elderly, distant relative. She wanted to know if I liked my job, if I was happy in what I was doing, where I thought my career was heading and other such inquiries

    • In training – Out of the slump

      • I was always a bit of a lost boy when growing up, not fitting the mould, never really sure what to do with myself, not really thinking about the future and what it might bring

    • In practice – What am I doing here?

      • I am writing this soon after my return from a welcome Christmas break, revived and shattered, excited and flattened. This is a familiar, annual state of flux, resulting from an intense period of family gatherings, over-excitement (mine) and myriad modes of travel

  • News
    • One in two therapy clients recover

      • A national research audit has shown that 49 per cent of clients using psychological therapies recovered by the end of treatment

    • Youth advice services can cut costs to NHS services

      • Youth advice and counselling services can prevent young people becoming ill through stress and so cut costs to the NHS further down the line, according to a report from the charity Youth Access

    • Reading together helps dementia care

      • Reading in groups can help older people with dementia

    • AQP guidance

      • The Department of Health has amended its Any Qualified Provider guidance to NHS commissioners to include non-statutorily regulated professions

    • What makes a happy child?

      • Family relationships, home life and family income are key influences on children’s happiness and sense of wellbeing, a report from the Children’s Society says

    • MPs clash over abortion counselling

      • Shadow minister for public health Diane Abbott MP has resigned from a cross-party consultation group of MPs set up to review the provision of counselling services for women considering an abortion

    • Briefly...

      • News in brief: four BACP members have been awarded MBEs; Southampton University is to test dialectical behaviour therapy for chronic depression; and internet addicts show the same brain changes as those addicted to alcohol and drugs

  • Editorial

    • Whether they’re refusing £1 million bonuses or being stripped of knighthoods, bankers have barely been out of the news this past month. But one thing we’re not so likely to hear about is their mental health

  • Letters
    • Many shades of grey

      • The article titled ‘Manifesting men’ by Nick Duffell talks about problems between men and women. Unfortunately, instead of providing a solution to relationship problems, the author adds further confusion to the issue because he reduces multi-faceted relationship dynamics to a single cause

    • Hierarchical assumptions

      • It was refreshing to read Nick Duffell’s article ‘Manifesting men’. I have also checked out the ‘Letter to Womankind’, apologising to us for suppressing and abusing us for 5000 years

    • Old males, new men

      • I greatly enjoyed Nick Duffell’s article in the November 2011 issue. While I generally agree with its stance, it got me thinking about perhaps broader perspectives in the light of recent and previous relationships

    • Discernment not diagnosis

      • I enjoyed unravelling Manu Bazzano’s article ‘Reclaiming diagnosis’ but am compelled to share my own thoughts in straightforward, everyday language

  • Questionnaire
    • Questionnaire – Nick Luxmoore

      • School counsellor, trainer and psychodrama psychotherapist, Nick Luxmoore believes you have to know when to adapt the rules to help young people

  • Day in the Life

    • Rameri Moukam is founder and clinical director of Pattigift, an African-centred therapy centre based in Birmingham

  • Reviews
    • Ageing in mind

      • Ageing and older adult mental health: issues and implications for practice, Patrick Ryan and Barry J Coughlan (eds), Routledge 2011, £21.99, ISBN 978-0415582902

    • Putting the T in tranny

      • Queering the tranny: new perspectives on male transvestism and transsexualism, Alex Drummond, True Colours Coaching LLP 2011, £18.49, ISBN 978-0956557995

    • Spiritual awakening

      • In case of spiritual emergency: moving successfully through your awakening, Catherine G Lucas, Findhorn Press 2011, £9.99, ISBN 978-1844095469

    • Solution-focused work

      • The solution-focused way: incorporating solution focused therapy tools and techniques into everyday work, Simon Proudlock, Speechmark 2011, £37.99, ISBN 978-08638877536

    • Not mad but angry

      • The madness of women: myth and experience, Jane M Ussher, Routledge 2011, £19.95, ISBN 978-0415339285

    • Enduring triangles

      • Working with relationship triangles, Philip J Guerin Jr, Thomas F Fogarty, Leo F Fay, Judith Gilbert Kautto, The Guilford Press 2010, £16, ISBN 978-1606239179

    • Manipulation matters

      • Coping with manipulation, Windy Dryden, Sheldon Press 2011, £8.99, ISBN 978-1847091352

    • Supervision and change

      • A practical guide to transformative supervision for the helping professions, Nicki Weld, Jessica Kingsley Publishers 2011, £15.99, ISBN 978-1849052542

    • Following in their wake

      • Released in UK cinemas this month, A Dangerous Method explores the triangular relationship between Freud, Jung and Jung’s first patient, Sabina Spielrein. John Daniel reviews the film of the play of the book

  • Noticeboard
    • Supervision

      • Find a supervisor in your area

    • Placements

      • Find a placement in your area

    • Research

      • Participate in research

    • Networking

      • Find a group in your area

  • Dilemmas
    • Dilemmas – Blurring the boundaries

      • A student has learned, in confidence, that a fellow student is seeing their shared supervisor outside supervision times – should she inform the course tutors?

  • From the Chair
    • Things can only get tougher

      • News that Time to Change is to launch a new anti-stigma campaign aimed at children and young people is very welcome. But reports to BACP of the closure of vital adult counselling services, due to local authority cuts, suggest we face tough times ahead

  • News feature
    • Counselling the jobless back to work

      • The Government’s Work Programme to get the jobless back into employment could provide huge opportunities for counsellors and psychotherapists to demonstrate their worth

  • In the news
    • IAPT reports fall in back to work rates

      • IAPT services have reported a fall in the numbers of people moving off sick pay and benefits following treatment

    • Government launches social justice strategy

      • The Government has launched a national social justice strategy to tackle disadvantage and family breakdown

    • Views sought on children’s health

      • A national forum is seeking public and professional views about the most important issues to tackle to improve children and young people’s mental health

• BACP
  • BACP News
    • BACP News

      • News from your Association

  • BACP Professional Conduct
    • BACP Professional Conduct Hearing
    • BACP Professional Conduct Hearing
    • Sanction compliance
    • Sanction compliance
    • Withdrawal of membership
  • BACP Professional Standards
    • BACP Professional Standards

      • Details about newly accredited counsellors/psychotherapists, supervisors and services

  • BACP Research
    • BACP Research

      • News and information from the BACP Research department

TT.net

• Insights
  • Behind the pictures

    • Visual simplicity is not easy to achieve, says illustrator Joe McLaren

  • In conversation with...

    • Leslie Chapman, author of Stress in the City, talks to Colin Feltham about the effects on mental health of working in the financial sector, and the ethical dilemmas for therapists and counsellors working with this client group

  • Talking point Andy Rogers

    • I have newspaper clippings somewhere of the 1988 ‘Battle of Westminster’, the visceral culmination of a mass demonstration in London against the Conservative Government’s replacement of student grants with so-called top-up loans

• Relationships
  • Online supervision

    • Linda’s descriptions of her abusive marriage prompt powerful personal feelings in her counsellor, Gareth. His online supervision session with Maureen is an opportunity to explore his response

  • Couples work

    • Extract from BACP Information sheet - 'Working with clients with addictive behaviours'

• Hindsights
  • Why I became a counsellor Kevin Chandler

    • The best therapy endeavours to understand and appreciate how and why we are as we are, rather than simply setting out to change people,’ says couples counsellor and novelist Kevin Chandler

• From the archive
  • One size does not fit all

    • Clive Perraton Mountford challenges the sacred hour in a thought-provoking discussion on client-determined session length – not something to launch into unsupervised, but definitely worth our attention