The Therapeutic Encounter: A Cross-Modality Approach

The therapeutic encounter is at the core of counseling and psychotherapy training and practice, regardless of therapeutic modality. This book introduces a cross-modality approach to the client-therapist encounter, drawing from humanistic, psychoanalytic, systemic, and integrative approaches.

Chapters introduce a range of client themes – the refusal to join in, the battle for control, the emotionally unavailable etc – and shows how these are enacted in the relationship. The authors invite you, as therapist, to interact creatively with the client, engaging directly in the drama. In this way, they provide a coherent framework within which to understand both the therapeutic relationship and the principles of their approach.

This book is highly recommended for any counseling and psychotherapy trainee, regardless of modality. It is a must-read, with each chapter directly addressing essential teaching and trainee concerns.

David Bott is Director of Studies in Counselling and Psychotherapy at the University of Brighton. His initial background was in social theory. An early post with responsibility for providing training for health and social services across London opened an interest in humanistic principles and practice leading to a number of trainings. Subsequently, he undertook full-time clinical study of Family Systemic Therapy at the University of London Institute of Psychiatry working both in the Maudsley Hospital and the Department of Child and Family Psychiatry at King College Hospital. As an academic at the University of Brighton, he has published a number of papers which examine the relationship between therapeutic theories and models from a systemic/social constructionist perspective. In addition to his academic responsibilities, David is a UKCP registered systemic psychotherapist in independent practice.

Pam Howard is responsible for the masters programme in counselling and psychotherapy at the University of Brighton and is a UKCP registered Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist. She began her academic career as a psychoanalytic theorist and this led to undertaking a clinical training at the Guild of Psychotherapists. She has lectured on aspects of psychoanalytic theory and practice for a number of years in higher education. As first Chief Executive of the UK Council of Psychotherapy, she spent a decade heavily involved in the professionalization and regulation of psychotherapy and subsequently held the Chair of the Universities Psychotherapy and Counselling Association. At the University of Brighton her publications have centred on aspects of the psychoanalytic therapeutic relationship.

Together with colleagues, they have developed an approach to counselling and psychotherapy training founded upon the principle of respectful co-existence between disparate approaches. Here, cross-modality dialogue is a central feature of the learning.