In this issue
Here and now
Spotlight: Uplifting, inspiring, engaging
Sally Brown takes over as editor of Therapy Today next month. Outgoing editor Catherine Jackson checks her credentials
In focus: climate change (open article)
Catherine Jackson talks to counsellors and psychotherapists who are putting the Earth first
The big issues
In practice
Sally Brown discusses records and record-keeping
Meeting the challenge of therapist fatigue
Chris Paul explores how to be with our clients without losing ourselves
Living with dyslexia
Laura Newman discusses what brings clients with dyslexia to counselling
Hope and change
Julia Samuel introduces her new collection of case studies
When words fail
David O’Driscoll discusses the challenges of working with non-verbal clients
Wondering in the wilderness
Katarina Horrox and Andy Hardie outline the benefits of outdoor therapy for troubled youngsters
Regulars
Turning point
Tom Smithson draws wisdom from experience
It changed my life
‘Sometimes I wouldn’t even remember what we’d said, but I started to take notice of how I felt – to name and own my feelings, rather than denying them’
Talking point: Is that the time?
How do you deal with persistent latecomers
Dilemmas
Holding boundaries
Q&A
What if I can’t afford the BACP membership fee?
Analyse me
Rita Mintz speaks for herself
SCoPEd feedback
‘... very practical and very challenging’ says Fiona Ballantine Dykes
Members and subscribers can download the pdf of this issue from the Therapy Today archive.
Welcome
It’s been a very hard decision to step away from a job that has been so all-embracing for so long. I’ve known no other job where I could walk into a room of strangers and be sure to meet at least one, if not several, readers. Or find one sitting next to me on the train (asleep over his copy, in this case) or, as did a colleague at Think, strap-hanging next to her on the London underground, nose buried in the magazine. True, no one ever recognised me from the photo, but that’s the beauty of the makeover – perfect disguise.
So, after eight years of working on Therapy Today, first as Deputy Editor and, since 2016, as Editor, I shall shortly step free of the tyranny of monthly deadlines. Bliss. I shall miss it dreadfully but it’s the right time for me to move on, and right for the magazine. The new editor, Sally Brown, brings a wealth of experience, fresh ideas and energy – you can meet her in this issue. You will be in the best of hands.
For me, the most significant development in that time has been more precisely a revolution – the resurgence of the relational, reasserting itself alongside the technical. Counselling has doggedly argued its case against the obsession with quantification that public policy trends, the economic climate and incorporation into the NHS brought. That NICE is still deliberating the review of its guidance on depression is symptomatic of that turn – I hope. Our minds are not machines and how we feel is just as important to our wellbeing as the numbers on outcome and risk measures.
I want to offer my grateful thanks to you readers for contributing to and engaging with the magazine. And I especially want to thank all my colleagues at BACP and Think, who have tirelessly helped me to fill and publish the pages each month. Truly, without you, it wouldn’t have been possible.
Catherine Jackson
Editor
Discussions around the future of our planet are, quite rightly, high on the agenda.
As we start the new decade, devastating bush fires ravage Australia, there’s deforestation in the Amazon and extreme weather events across the world are bringing home to us the fragility of our world.
We’re also hearing more and more about people with ‘eco-anxiety’ caused by their worries about the environment and the impact we humans are having on the planet.
It can feel overwhelming for many people. There can be a sense of powerlessness, or we might ask ourselves, how do I make a difference? The feature in this issue offers some ideas.
Turning to the cover story on self-care, I like to schedule in breaks to allow me the time to do completely nothing – which can sometimes be harder than it sounds. Our work can be hugely demanding, so it is important that we put self-care high up on our personal agendas.
Natalie Bailey
BACP Chair