The Child Within : Taking the Young Person's Perspective by Applying Personal Construct Psychology

Many young people appear troubled. Sometimes their behaviour can intimidate or simply baffle. Drawing on the principles of Personal Construct Theory and now fully updated in response to popular demand, The Child Within helps develop our understanding of how children make sense of the world and themselves - and offers solutions for resolving the dilemmas they face. Practical applications of Personal Construct Theory are illustrated using cases coupled with the authors’ own research. The Second Edition includes seven brand new chapters and a guest chapter by Harry Procter on working with families.

Richard Butler is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist with the child and adolescent mental health services in Leeds and an Honorary Lecturer at the University of Leeds. He qualified at Bristol University, undertook clinical practice at High Royds Hospital working alongside Don Bannister, participated as a sports psychologist with the British Olympic Association, worked with the World Health Organization on structuring assessment and treatment approaches for nocturnal enuresis and is involved with the Avon longitudinal Survey of Parents and Children in researching preventative strategies in child health. Throughout his work he has sought to draw on the principles of personal construct theory to help people enhance their psychological functioning. He is the creator of performance profiling, a methods of enhancing sporting performance; co-author of the three systems approach to understanding and treating nocturnal enuresis; and more latterly developed the Self Image Profile as a means of understanding and assessing how children and adults construe themselves. Amongst his other interests is the active study of consistently poor golf, collecting vinyl records and suffering the trauma of supporting Huddersfield Town.

David Green is Clinical Director of the Doctor of Clinical Psychology training programme at the University of Leeds. He  has worked with children and adolescents and their families for over 30 years and currently contributes clinical psychology support to the paediatric oncology service at St James University Hospital in Leeds. He is a long-standing Kellyan and has written and presented a series of papers on personal construct approaches to therapeutic work with young people on topics such as fixed role therapy and paediatric health care. He also has a keen interest in the processes of professional training, especially the role of clinical supervision.