Counselling Skills for Health Professionals

by Phillip Burnard (Author)

• New

  Hardcover
  2006

  $65.17

  The new edition of this popular text has been updated to reflect research, changes and developments in counselling. Written by one of the country's most experienced counselling authors, this text combines theory and practice to give students a full understanding of the complexities of counselling.

• Used

  Paperback
  1993

  $3.27

  This is the second edition of a book that I hope continues to be of practical value. For counselling must always be that: practical. No amount of talking, on its own, can really make a difference if people do not end up doing something as a result of counselling. The practical thread remains an important one throughout this edition. Counselling Skills for Health Professionals is not just a 'how to do it' book: people are probably too complicated for that approach to be of much use. Counselling is never simply a matter of learning a range of skills which you then apply in a range of settings. In the end, counselling is about facing the person in front of you, listening to them carefully and then supporting them as they work through their problems. For many problems, there are no easy answers and counselling doesn't offer any 'quick fixes'. It is essentially a supportive process. There are many things it cannot do. It cannot change certain social and political situations. It cannot cure diseases. On the other hand, what it can do is offer people more hope. Often, just the fact that there is somone who is prepared to hear your story and to listen to you is all that is needed. I remain convinced that the key issue in all types of counselling is the ability to listen.

• New

  Paperback
  1989

  $81.91

  Counselling is a practical activity. The aim of this book is to offer a practical framework to enable those who work in the health profes- sions to develop a range of counselling skills. It will also offer a theoretical grounding that may serve to inform counselling practice. The book is aimed at any of those people who work in the health professions: nurses, medical staff, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech therapists, soeial workers, teachers of various sorts and voluntary workers. It does not seek to provide information speeific to the work of those groups but aims at demysti- fying counselling and making the skills involved available to them all. The book assumes that the professional working in a particular group will already have their own body of knowledge regarding their work. This book will supplement that knowledge and extend the range of caring skills. Throughout the book, practical examples of the prineiples under discussion are offered. These help to make the abstract concrete. They also serve to apply the skills described to a variety of health-care settings. A problem arises over gender and trying to avoid sexist language. I have been unable to find a solution to it and have referred to the counsellor as she and the dient as he. No sexism is intended but the usage may have made for darity and ease of reading.