Pluralistic Counselling and Psychotherapy

Mick Cooper is Professor of Counselling Psychology at the University of Roehampton, where he is Director of the Centre for Research in Social and Psychological Transformation (CREST). Mick is a chartered psychologist, a UKCP registered psychotherapist, and a Fellow of the BACP. Mick is author and editor of a range of texts on person-centred, existential and relational approaches to therapy; including Working at Relational Depth in Counselling and Psychotherapy (2005, SAGE, with Dave Mearns), Pluralistic Counselling and Psychotherapy (2011, SAGE, with John McLeod) and Existential Therapies (2nd edn, 2017, SAGE). Mick has led a series of research studies exploring the processes and outcomes of humanistic counselling with young people. Mick is the father of four children and lives in Brighton on the south coast of England. John McLeod has held appointments in universities in the UK, New Zealand and Italy, and is currently Professor of Counselling at the Institute for Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy, Dublin, and Professor of Psychology, University of Oslo. He is committed to promoting the relevance of research as a means of informing therapy practice and improving the quality of services that are available to clients, and has received an award from the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy for his exceptional contribution to research. His writing has influenced a generation of trainees in the field of counselling, counselling psychology and psychotherapy, and his books are widely adopted on training programmes across the world.

"The writing style is plain and clear. The structure of each chapter is evident, rather like a textbook with handy bullet points at the beginning indicating the chapter′s content, a summary at the end, and questions and exercises to test the reader′s critical understanding. There is recommended reading so that you can follow up on particular points, and no particularly difficult or obscure language to grapple with. I found the text totally accessible.The authors call for service-providers to think carefully about the risks involved in only offering a limited range of therapeutic modalities / brands such as CBT, psychodynamic, person-centred, existentialism, and so forth, that is, to consider the risks of not providing the therapy that would be optimal for the client and the society around him" -Paula Smith, Journal of The Society for Existential Analysis"Mick Cooper and John McLeod have produced a truly groundbreaking book in the field of counselling and psychotherapy which immediately ranks as one of the most significant in terms of influencing my own thinking and practice. The pluralistic approach is likely to resonate with many who have struggled to make sense of multiple approaches and practices which all seem potentially helpful, and the positioning of the collaborative relationship with the client at the centre of the approach fits very well with current thinking in mental health more widely. The book brings together a wealth of relevant theory and research, with illuminating examples. It is a valuable counter to the overly precious ′us and them′ type thinking that can be so prevalent in the counselling and psychotherapy world, and gives us new and helpful ways of speaking our experiences of therapy." - Meg Barker, Open University, co-author of Understanding Counselling and Psychotherapy, 2010, SAGE"This book comes at an opportune moment for practitioner training and practice. It will be an invaluable source text for trainees and experienced practitioners seeking support in developing their understanding of, and practice in, contemporary counselling and therapy." - Dr Lynne Gabriel, Reader in Counselling and Relational Ethics and Chair, BACP"Fifteen years of research amongst therapy users has shown me that most of them know and care little what therapy modality they receive. They want a therapy that works, that helps them meet their own goals, and that treats them respectfully and responsively as customers of a service. This book describes an approach which is groundbreaking in meeting these criteria. It is packed with interesting ideas and research, beautifully written and gripping to read." - Nicky Forsythe, Mental Health Services Researcher

• Introducing the Pluralistic ApproachFoundations for a Pluralistic ApproachBuilding a Collaborative Therapeutic RelationshipClient Goals: The Starting Point for TherapyTasks: Focusing the Therapeutic WorkMethods: Resources for Facilitating ChangeResearch: Developing Pluralistic Counselling and PsychotherapySupervision, Training, CPD and Service Delivery: Pluralistic PerspectivesDiscussion: Towards a New Paradigm References