With reports continually demonstrating increased demand and severity of student mental health needs, it is important to gain a fuller understanding of the impact on embedded student counselling services. The aims of this research were to identify (a) service similarities, (b) factors which impact on services, (c) characteristics of service users,…

Working with suicidal clients is perceived to be demanding and anxiety provoking for psychotherapists. This investigation explores what it is like for psychotherapists who work with suicidal clients, particularly as within the prevailing culture there is an increasing focus on strategies aimed at suicide prevention. Five themes were identified…

Young people are increasingly turning to online support, especially when traditional mental health services are not immediately available. Using a cross-sectional design, sociodemographic information and self-reported perceptions of the strength of the working alliance and client satisfaction were collected from a sample of participants (n = 78)…

This study explores how adolescent clients construct the purpose and outcome of counselling. A narrative analysis was performed on interviews with 22 clients (aged 16--18) who had used a school-based counselling service. The aim was to identify the purpose and outcomes that participants attributed to their counselling experience. The analysis…

Despite the exponential growth of non-appointment-based web counselling, there is limited information on what happens in a single session intervention. This exploratory study, involving a thematic analysis of 85 counselling transcripts of people seeking help for problem gambling, aimed to describe the presentation and content of online…

In this paper we introduce and investigate the capacity for a novel, technologically advanced system (goACT) to enhance face-to-face psychotherapy. Specifically, we explore the capacity for goACT to enhance therapeutic alliance (TA) and engagement, and reduce distress. Using a mixed-methods, multiple-baseline design we present the first study to…

The Butabika-East London Link collaborated with Ugandan mental health services to train mental health professionals (psychiatric clinical officers, "PCOs", and clinical psychologists and psychiatrists, "Core Group") in psychological therapies. The aims of this research were to investigate how professionals were applying and…

Is counseling effective for clients with an intellectual disability? This question hovers in the minds of busy practitioners who question not only the ability of these clients to derive benefit from counseling but also their own ability to provide an effective service. However, this simplistic binary question does not do justice to the…

Training programmes frequently recruit students from undergraduate classes to serve as clients for counselors-in-training. Some of these clients receive external incentives for this participation, such as extra-credit or expectation of fulfilling a course requirement. It is unknown however whether or not this external incentive influences the…

The benefits of psychological support in the workplace (also known as workplace counselling) are well documented. Most large organisations in the UK have staff counselling schemes. However, it is unclear what, if any, factors affect employee decisions to use such schemes. This study has used a qualitative methodology to explore the reasons that…

Explores the role of pastoral counseling in the light of the increasing interest among secular therapists in spirituality and the escalation in the number of clients presenting themselves with spiritual issues. Examines the central influence of Carl Rogers and argues that his late embracing of the spiritual dimension makes him a potential source…

Presents the highlights of the 2000 symposium on guidance, psychotherapy and counseling in Great Britain. The picture emerged of professionally dominated enterprises in which the client's point of view is obscure. Explores why this is the case and how the client's perspective can reinforce the political as well as the therapeutic value of…

Explores the role of narrative-based research with ex-clients as a celebration and extension of the counseling process. Renegotiates issues of power and control, ethics, and safety in establishing research relationships in light of concerns about dual relationships in counseling. Reflects on these issues within the context of conducting a…

Recent research amongst mental health service users reveals how important spiritual care and counsel are and how few resources are available to provide this service from psychiatry, religious organizations or secular counseling services. Describes the results of three research projects in Somerset and explores the significance of the recovery of…

Individuals can be envisaged as living within a number of parallel universes of discourse, where different meanings and values may apply. The inner and outer worlds of the counseling client also constitute different universes. Decisions made with respect to one universe may have different meanings or adverse consequences in another; it beholds the…