Working with Risk in Counselling and Psychotherapy

The wide-ranging contexts in which counselling and psychotherapy is now practiced means clients present with a range of risks that therapists have to respond to. Risk is an ever-present issue for counsellors and psychotherapists and, in an increasingly litigious culture, the need for trainees to develop a sound understanding of how the right tools and the right knowledge can support their practice has never been greater. In this book Andrew Reeves takes trainees, newly qualified practitioners, and more experienced practitioners step-by-step through what is meant by risk, offering practical hints and tips and links to policy and research to inform good ethical practice along the way.

This book tackles:

• The definition of risk and how risk is linked to social, psychological and relational factors

• Working with those who are at risk of suicide, self-injury, self-harm and/or are an endangerment to others

• How therapists should respond to the risk in situations involving child protection, mental health crises, and in the therapeutic process itself

• The positive side of risk-taking

• How counsellors and psychotherapists can work with risk proactively and positively, informed by research.

Filled with case studies, ethical dilemmas, reflective questions, discussion questions and further reading, this book offers counsellors and psychotherapists guidance on how they can work with risk proactively and positively. It is an essential resource for all services, organisations and individual practitioners.

Andrew Reeves is an Emeritus Professor in the Counselling Professions and Mental Health and Associate Affiliate Professor at the University of Malta.  He is additionally a Senior BACP Accredited Counsellor/Psychotherapist, a Registered Social Worker and a Senior Accredited Coach and Coach Supervisor with EMCC. He is a past Chair of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, a Fellow of BACP and a Senior Fellow of Advance HE. He has published extensively on working in counselling and psychotherapy, and particularly in working with risk in a range of organizational settings. He is past Editor-in-Chief of the journal Counselling and Psychotherapy Research and has a long-standing commitment to ethics in the counselling professions, including in writing and research.