Anne Kearney (–2015)

The second edition of Anne Kearney's important work provides useful updating and some development of the issues she raised in the first edition, and which she was planning to do herself before her untimely death. While it still misses the in-text referencing I think would bolster her arguments (and which Kearney confirms in her introduction as a deliberate authorial decision), the greatly expanded bibliography is welcome.

The drive for the professionalisation of counselling and psychotherapy, in direct opposition to the values of the person-centred approach, by the BACP and other UK organisations which Kearney warned against is, sadly, as strong as ever. It is, however, heartening to see a collectivised push-back from within the counselling community against the neoliberalisation and commodification of therapy and 'wellness', inspired at least in part by Kearney's book.… (altro)

Written in 1996, the issues covered seem (sadly) to be just as relevant today.

Taking a person-centred view of class politics as it relates to counselling, the author argues that seeking to maintain a politically-neutral stance and ignoring class and any counsellor/client class differences, leaves unexamined whole dimensions of experience, the influence of which, being unacknowledged, cannot be dealt with congruently.

The author's own political leanings are left-wing, with much criticism made of Thatcherite and Blairite policies. To me, these criticisms read convincingly, but then I lean leftwards myself.

As well as developing her argument for an open recognition of class and the political environment in counselling and counselling training, (though, to be fair, she does not specify any partisan position in this), the author also provides a number of activities for trainee counsellors and training groups.

Where I feel the author could have improved her argument would be by providing more detailed references in the text. Some few are supplied, and there is a reasonably extensive reference list and bibliography in which to try to hunt stuff down, however the relative dearth of in-text references gives an air to much of the her argument being personal opinion, rather than evidenced by research of relevant literature.… (altro)