In this issue
Features
Recession depression
Sarah Browne explores the role of听counselling in a time of recession
Counselling鈥檚 鈥榮pecial relationship鈥�
David Kaplan and Val Potter discuss the听history of counselling in the US and UK.
Mind, body and soul
To ignore the spirit is to ignore a huge chunk听of a person鈥檚 being, argues John Rowan.
Nurturing reflective space
Reflective space is a vital source of psychic听nourishment, writes Mark Emery.
Do we need supervision?
Caro Bailey questions the rarely questioned听assumption that supervision is a good thing.
Regulars
News focus
Hearing their voices
Catherine Jackson asks why people with severe mental illness are still not offered听talking therapies, despite NICE recommendations and government pledges
Talking point
Alice King: Therapists in denial
The researcher
Barry McInnes: Making measures human
In the client's chair
Adam Lawton: I've got a life to live
In practice
Rachel Freeth: Encounters involving warmth
How I became a therapist
Nick Totton
Questionnaire
Stephan Natynczuk
My life
Oliver Burkeman: In pursuit of awe
Dilemmas
Historic sexual abuse
Letters
香港六合彩精准资料
From the chair
Amanda Hawkins: A new year to come
Articles from this issue are not available online. Members and subscribers can download the pdf from the听Therapy Today听archive.
Editorial
For months now, when I鈥檝e been doing my听supermarket shop and flinching at the price of听an apple or a loaf of bread, I鈥檝e been wondering听and worrying about how families on very low听incomes are surviving. Researching the feature听on recession depression has opened my eyes听to the world of foodbanks and suicide statistics听connected to unemployment. I realised that听things are a lot worse than I had imagined.听I had no idea, for example, that there are two听new foodbanks opening every week in towns听and cities across the UK and that thousands听of people are using them to feed their children.听Nor did I know that a one per cent rise in听unemployment equates to a 0.79 per cent听rise in suicide.
Talking to counsellors in different sectors,听a picture emerges of hugely increased demand听for services by people affected by the recession听in different ways: young unemployed people,听people who have lost their welfare benefits in听desperate financial situations, huge increases听in relationship breakdown due to financial听stress, increases in suicidal ideation and听alcohol addiction.
Over the years I have heard various听ministers at the New Savoy Conference听pledging that they will not abandon the听unemployed; that they will not let them听sink into depression, never to return to the听workplace etc etc. This year鈥檚 conference听was no exception. The promises were there听but the disconnect between policy and what听is happening on the ground seems to be听getting wider. Everybody recognises that听huge progress has been made in the last four or听five years in terms of trying to improve access听to psychological therapies on the NHS, but听currently clearly only a fraction of those who听could benefit are getting any kind of a look-in.听Judging from the comments from GPs in The听Austerity Report 2012, many of them are not听even bothering to refer people for counselling听because the waiting lists are so long. When听we know the difference that counselling听can make, this is disappointing indeed.
Sarah Browne
Editor