The January 2023 issue of BACP Workplace marks a decade since I came to the helm as editor of the journal, which at that time was called Counselling at Work. It was just a few years after the 2008 financial crash, and the words on the first front cover read: Facing adversity, developing resilience – it was a pretty clear indication that UK workers and those health professionals that support them would be facing some tough times ahead.

Since then, I’ve worked with hundreds of therapists who have shared their knowledge, expertise and wisdom. Sometimes they find their way to me with their ideas, which are always welcome. More often, I go looking for them and their article ideas because I’ve learnt that our profession doesn’t always recognise the true value of what it is that we know and why it is we need to take the time to put words to it. Perhaps that’s why I feel there’s cause to celebrate when therapists who’ve contributed to BACP Workplace have become published authors in their own right and been kind enough to acknowledge the role I’ve played in encouraging them to write. It’s good for our profession, for other practitioners engaged in workplace mental health support and for those who read their books.

This winter, as I mark my 10-year-anniversary as editor of BACP Workplace and the words, Strike, strike, strike are on the front cover of the January issue – it speaks volumes about the pay, conditions and morale in the workforce. I was in my teens the last time there was industrial action on this scale, and counsellors were not engaged in organisations in the way that we are now – it’s a new challenge for our profession to face and respond to.

I know that in this climate it can be hard to hold on to hope when there is so much distress and despair around – and therapists witness this more than most. So, I’m taking some solace in the words of writer Rebecca Solnit, author of Hope in the Dark: “Your opponents would love you to believe that it's hopeless, that you have no power, that there's no reason to act, that you can't win. Hope is a gift you don't have to surrender, a power you don't have to throw away”.

Here's to the power of hope.

The January edition of BACP Workplace is now available for members to read.

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