In this issue
Here and now
News feature: Going it alone (free article)
The perils and pitfalls of private practice
The big issues
Experts by experience
Steph Jones asks why her experience of mental distress might help her be a better therapist
Three in the room
Catriona Wrottesley outlines the important ‘third position’ of the couple counsellor
Who cares for the wounded carers?
Counsellors working with severe trauma need protection from trauma too, writes Fiona Dunkley
Crap life disorder
Michelle Higgins questions giving children mental health diagnoses
Regulars
Turning point
Wisdom from experience
Research matters
John McLeod’s top picks from the journals
Dilemmas
Elsa’s new job means she must leave her clients
Talking point
How do you end sessions?
Self-care
Pilates helps Dawn Humberstone tune into her body
Analyse me
Marie Adams answers our questionnaire
Your association
BACP news: New data protection regulation
Susan Dale explains how the General Data Protection Regulations will change how we can store and use client data
A pdf of this issue is available in the Therapy Today archive
Editor's note
I have had a lot of correspondence in the past couple of weeks with BACP colleagues and with readers about how the magazine could better serve its student readership. After all, as one student reader pointed out to me, with some asperity and a lot of accuracy, students are tomorrow’s qualified members and the future of the profession.
Therapy Today should be reaching out to engage and nurture them, and flag up their concerns, battles and dilemmas (which are, very often, directly related to the future of the profession, since how they are trained affects what kind of therapy future generations will receive). My problem is how to contact trainee therapists for their ideas, as they have no identifiable forum within BACP – at present, at least. So, if you are a student and have ideas about what you would like to read in Therapy Today that’s specifically for you, and if you would like to contribute, please email me.
Turning to this month’s issue, many newly qualified therapists are finding themselves thrown into private practice, whether they feel ready for it or not, because there are so few paid posts out there. So, this month’s news feature will be of particular interest. I’d also like to draw readers’ attention to the Research Matters pages, which are stuffed with interesting studies – most notably, for me, one that looked at the impact on therapy outcomes of a warm and welcoming reception/ist in counselling services – an overlooked factor in the literature. We also have some thought-provoking responses to the December News Feature, ‘Putting gender on the agenda’, and John Rowan’s Turning Point on ‘sacking’ clients in the extended Letters pages.
Catherine Jackson
Editor
It’s easy to set up in private practice, isn’t it?
There is no expensive equipment to invest in, you just need two chairs and a private space to talk, don’t you? To an outsider, it must look like a breeze.
While there are more therapists in private practice than ever before, setting up and making a success of it is far more complicated than it looks. As the thousands of us who do it, or have done it, will testify, there are many practical, financial, psychological and even digital roadblocks to overcome. So, this month we’re publishing a special news feature for the thousands of you who will attempt it at some point in the future.
I happen to thrive in the climate of self-reliance that private practice requires, and I value the freedoms and choices it gives me, from when to work to what type of work I’ll do. But of course, it doesn’t suit everybody.
Is it right for you? Find out in our news feature.
Rachel Shattock Dawson
Consultant Editor