Mindful Counselling & Psychotherapy

Meg-John Barker is the author of a number of popular books on sex, gender, and relationships, including Queer: A Graphic History, Gender: A Graphic Guide, How To Understand Your Gender, Life Isn’t Binary, Enjoy Sex (How, When, and IF You Want To), Rewriting the Rules, The Psychology of Sex, and The Secrets of Enduring Love. They have also written a number of books for scholars and counsellors on these topics, drawing on their own research and therapeutic practice. Websites: rewriting-the-rules.com, megjohnandjustin.com. Twitter: @megjohnbarker, Instagram: @meg_john_barker.

′This is the book on Mindfulness and Individual Therapy that I have been waiting to read. Written from the heart as a mindfulness practitioner and therapist, the author captures the flavour of mindfulness, weaving together the concepts and practices of mindfulness into an integration with different therapeutic approaches. Easily accessible with supporting case examples, this is a book for the novice and experienced mindful therapist′ - Jody Mardula, UKCP Registered Psychotherapist, Mindfulness Teacher for Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice, Bangor University ′At a time when the expansion of diagnostic categories risks pathologising people who suffer with mental health issues, Meg Barker has written a humane book which stays true to the roots of mindful practice and draws out its deep and powerful implications for healing.As mindfulness becomes mainstream in health care, there is a risk that it becomes an uncritical orthodoxy. Meg Barker offers an original perspective on mindfulness in a variety of therapeutic contexts. This book should be required reading for all professional practitioners interested in mindfulness′ - Dr. Steven Stanley, Cardiff University ′Playful, clear, reflexive and grounded in day to day realities, Meg′s book is something special - a thoroughly pluralistic book that challenges any notion that there is one right way to bring mindfulness into our professional, or personal lives′ - Duncan Moss, Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology, Plymouth University ′Sensitive and compassionate. In this highly accessible book, Meg Barker brings a contemporary, updated and wide overview of the integration of mindfulness within a range of therapeutic modalities in addressing issues clients present within therapy. A very valuable and excellent resource for a wide readership′- Jyoti Nanda CPsychol AFBPsS is a practising Chartered Psychologist and Existential Psychotherapist (registered with HCPC, BPS, UKCP and BACP Senior Accred). She is Visiting Lecturer at Regent′s College SPCP, London and author of several peer reviewed papers and book chapters in the area of Mindfulness and Existential Therapy.

• IntroductionPART ONE: MINDFUL THERAPIESMindful Theory and PracticeMindful Therapy: The Client, the Counsellor, the RelationshipIntegrating Mindful Therapy with other ApproachesResearching Mindful TherapiesPART TWO: PRACTISING MINDFULLY ACROSS ISSUESDepressionStress and AnxietyAddiction′Psychotic′ ExperienceThe Body: Pain, Sleep, Eating, SexRelationshipsConcluding Thoughts