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Practical Ethics in Counselling and Psychotherapy
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Practical Ethics in Counselling and Psychotherapy
A Relational Approach



April 2019 | 216 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd

Are you sometimes challenged by how to apply ethical principles in your own practice? Looking to understand what ethical practice can look like from different theoretical standpoints?

Linda Finlay takes you on an exploration of ethical therapeutic practice. She highlights how therapeutic decisions depend on the social and relational context and vary according to your theoretical lens. She provides you with guidance on how to engage in therapy relationally while remaining professional, ethical and evidence-based.

Split over three parts this book takes you through:

-         The Context of Relational Ethics - introducing you to the foundational ideas, and considering how professional codes are applied within therapy

-         Relational Ethics within the Therapeutic Relationship – exploring the complex judgements demanded by the therapeutic process, and looking at how therapy needs to be situation specific

-         Relational Ethics in Practice – five extended, fictional case studies demonstrate relational ethics in practice, and discuss the issues raised.



 
Part I: The Context of 'Relational Ethics'
Preamble

 
 
Chapter 1: A relational approach to ethics
 
Chapter 2: Professional codes and legal frameworks: Thinking relationally
 
Chapter 3: Care as a relational ethic and its ‘shadow’
 
Chapter 4: Living ethics within a social world; 'Walking the talk'
 
Part II: Relational Ethics within the Therapeutic Relationship
Preamble

 
 
Chapter 5: 'First contact': Creating ethical therapeutic spaces
 
Chapter 6: Ethical boundarying
 
Chapter 7: Ethical 'holding'
 
Chapter 8: Ethical containing
 
Chapter 9: Ethical endings
 
Part III: Relational Ethics in Practice
Preamble

 
 
Chapter 10: Karim: Brief therapy and CBT
 
Chapter 11: Susan: Integrating creatively?
 
Chapter 12: Gary: Working with anger in context
 
Chapter 13: Star: Containing and boundarying?
 
Chapter 14: Luke: Intergenerational trauma work

Rather than relying on a set of ethical “rules” Linda Finlay is constantly reminding psychotherapist, counsellor, and coaches to question our actions: “Is my behaviour beneficial to this particular client’s welfare, at this point in time, and in this context?”

Richard G. Erskine, PhD.
Developmentally based, Relationally focused Integrative Psychotherapist

Linda Finlay's new contribution to the helping professions is simply a relational jewel! A beautiful rare example of how practical ethics unfolds and is shaped through the context and its participants. 

Her brilliant jewel throws a clear but sensitive light on the many facets of our ethical life and opens up really helpful directions in philosophical, theoretical and practical realms. This book is a gift to students, researchers and practitioners alike!

For the more advanced therapist it will be a well written, rich and stimulating companion that is deeply cherished.

Gerhard Payrhuber
MSc. MPhil. Integrative Psychotherapist & Supervisor

This book uses an engaging, informative approach to ethics rarely found within the field of counselling and psychotherapy. Linda Finlay uses her own experiences alongside those of others to offer in-depth explorations of and how ethics ‘dance and weave around us’ in the ‘vibrant immediacy of the relational context’ within which we live and work: a wonderful, rich, tapestry for practitioners at all stages. 

Kim Etherington
Emeritus professor, University of Bristol

This is an important contribution to counselling and psychotherapy. As always, Linda Finlay writes about complex processes in both an accessible and inspiring way. I have found her book refreshing and thought-provoking and can see it becoming a classic for all therapists looking for Ethical guidance

Sofie Bager-Charleson
Metanoia Institute

Linda Finlay is to be congratulated on this remarkable, well written and much needed book on not only practical but also relational ethics. It offers a vast amount of material and examples which reflect the complexities, challenges as well as new perspectives which inform ethical and contemporary relational practice.

Divine Charurua
Course Director for post graduate courses in Counselling and Psychotherapy at Leeds Beckett University

The author highlights how therapeutic decisions depend on the social and relational context and vary according to your theoretical lens... Finlay provides guidance on how to engage in therapy relationally while remaining professional, ethical and evidence -based. 

BACP’s Therapy Today

This is an informative and detailed text which takes a critical approach to the topic of ethics in counselling, and would be a useful read for anyone with an interest in the field.

Mrs Suzi Smale
Psychology, Petroc College
April 9, 2019

This book presents ethics in clinical practice, considering situations that psychotherapists will meet with their clients. As well as giving clinical examples, the reader is invited to think through given situations. This is helpful for both students and practitioners.

Dr mary Glover
Department of Psychology and Counselling, Newman University
May 7, 2019

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