First Steps in Counselling: A Students' Companion for Basic Introductory Courses

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I'd recommend it for people who are not familiar with academic/theoretical texts as it is written in a basic accessible style. If you are considering a course like me, want to learn about counselling skills as a helper or want an up to date look at current issues around counselling, then I wholeheartedly recommend you purchase this book. This well-timed fifth edition reflects the critical eye cast by its authors as they observe our fast-changing world, bringing into view issues such as how we valorise the different models and approaches, how an intersectional approach to counselling brings into focus issues of power, and also, in a more subtle way, the relevance of the political to the world of counselling. My main grievance with Sanders’ book was the layout; panels of quotes and lyrics to illustrate his points dotted across the pages really broke up the flow of the text. This openness makes First Steps a truly collaborative endeavour, and an essential text for our field.

This fourth, updated and revised edition of this bestselling classic offers essential guidance to student counsellors and psychotherapists starting out on their training.

People who come to counselling are ordinary people experiencing difficulties in their life, talking to a trained counsellor is a way of understanding your life and to take responsibility and choices of our own. Paula Williams and Andy Rogers have joined Pete Sanders as co-authors, skilfully blending their voices while each bringing their own distinctive presence, alongside several contributors whose personal experiences and perspectives are all too often marginalised within the counselling field. I am starting a CPCAB level 2 in October and this was the final book I needed to read to complete the course reading list. The authors offer the trainee and novice helper a rich overview of the role, purpose and value of counselling skills in contemporary helping roles. In accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018, the information will only be used for the above mentioned purposes.

Exploring pertinent themes for contemporary practice, it situates these discussions in the 21st century.You may be eligible to apply for an Advanced Learner Loan from Student Finance England, to fund the cost of your course.

Embedded as a continuous and necessary thread in this fifth edition is the insistence that all helping-relationship practitioners give attention to the impact of difference, diversity, power relations, and the wide range of social justice and equalities issues that result in oppressive practice, if left unrecognised by the helper. It contains all the basics that are helpful to know before starting the course and makes a great reference book.

However, they achieved it with aplomb and I found myself engrossed in the text throughout, almost as if I were a participant on a course where the tutors were carefully tailoring the learning to my needs.