We have a range of interesting subjects in this issue – all contributed by BACP members. David Richards highlights the therapeutic needs and sensitivities of a largely forgotten group in his article on working with older lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. As he explains, the challenges of ageing that we all face may be exacerbated if we are outside the heterosexual ‘norm’. We are more likely to be single, less likely to have children who might offer us care in old age and less likely to access health and social care services for fear of discrimination. We all have to face some degree of isolation and invisibility as we grow older but this may be increased for LGBT people who may continue to experience discrimination from carers as well as society generally. David asks the reader to consider how we deal with the feelings, transference and countertransference that may be evoked when working with a client who is significantly older and has a different sexual orientation.

Debra Jinks and Nash Popovic both work in the area of coaching and ask whether there is a place for integrating coaching with deeper more personal work in a single practice. So often they encounter clients who come to them to work on their career goals but also want to spend time working in depth on their inner world. They question the wisdom of separating these practices when a practitioner with the right combination of therapy and coaching training and experience could offer an integrated service to the client. This should be interesting to members of BACP Coaching who, as I understand it, fit into this category of practitioner.

Alan Priest tackles the fascinating subject of our use of personal pronouns in therapy. Therapists often encourage clients to ‘own’ their experience by using the pronoun ‘I’ but Alan looks at some research which shows that in fact the more people make reference to others, the more physically healthy they are likely to be and the more likely they are to deal effectively with emotional difficulties or traumatic upheaval in their lives. One hypothesis put forward is that – surprise, surprise – first person pronoun use indicates a focus on self, too much of which can be unhelpful. Food for thought.

Sarah Browne
Editor