‘This book is intended for students of counselling and therapy in their first year of training. We have attempted to describe capacities and skills that are fundamental to a range of widely used therapeutic approaches, from generalist counselling to specific models as different as psychoanalytic psychotherapy and cognitive behaviour therapy. Particular models require particular techniques, and we have not attempted a comprehensive coverage of model-specific skills. Instead, we have highlighted the skills that every competent helper needs when dealing with people in emotional distress: the competencies that make a practitioner effective no matter what model she or he professes.

Our experience of teaching counselling has convinced us that students overwhelmingly prefer textbooks that are clear and direct in their language, and acknowledge the difficulties that beginners face. Our aim was to write that kind of book. Provided throughout are realistic examples that draw on typical clients and typical situations from our own experience.

To present complex ideas simply is an art. We hope we’ve managed to achieve this here, even at the risk of appearing to oversimplify. We haven’t attempted to cover everything the beginning counsellor needs to know. A text is only an aid to learning.

Rather than trying (as many texts do) to accommodate every viewpoint, and to say things in the most uncontroversial way, we’ve preferred to run with our own opinions, as a jumping-off point for class discussion’. 
                                                                                    From Preface