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Counselling is something of a complicated field- it's as much about science as it is about philosophy. A counsellor through their own journey through training, reading and life will fine their own 'Way of Being', their own approach to how they serve others as a therapist. But what is undeniable is that reading is part of that journey. New science and discoveries about the person is found, new debates emerge and old ones resolved or put to bed. Our ability to look at answers i

I've been writing about trauma a lot recently, like really, a lot. So much so I have written a group course for people to understand their trauma better and how trauma shapes our relationships and our thinking. It's a culmination of 3 years of work reading research and combining ideas and theory in a way that works with the person-centred approach. Trauma is derived from the Greek word for wound. As Susan Dale puts it, it's "situations and events that people have experiences

One thing I reflect on constantly as a counsellor is what sort of environment gives a client the opportunity to grow. As a person-centred counsellor, empathy, congruence, unconditional positive regard are the 'core conditions' for someone to grow. But these core conditions are underpinned by a way of being in the room, known as the non-directive attitude, or non-directivity. So what is this non-directivity which people say is so integral to the person-centred way of being? (1

What resilience is is a question that has occurred to me for a long time. For nearly four years, I have facilitated dozens of groups in which we have explored this question. In the group format, there are lots of factors we explore to understand it- sensory and somatic (bodily) needs, values, negative thinking, self-compassion, self-esteem, coping strategies and understanding the need behind those emotions. In searching for a definition of emotional resilience, writers in Pos