Counselling, Psychotherapy and the Law (Professional Skills for Counsellors series) (Hardcover)

`[An] excellent... and timely book.... I strongly recommend this book to every psychotherapist' - Group Analysis

`Superb. It should be read by every counsellor in training. If it is, numerous law cases will be avoided. Even if they come to court, the counsellor will be as well prepared for that often bruising experience as it is possible to be... it permits the reader to enter the mindset of the lawyer, making the philosophy and rules as explicit as possible... [in this] high quality work... the suggested counsellor responses to meet the expected hostile lawyer techniques are by themselves well worth the cover price of the book. The rest is a bonus... if any reader is going to buy just one book, it should be Jenkins's' - British Journal of Guidance and Counselling

`This book is a most useful contribution. Counsellors in training will be exposed to ethics and law as all professionals expect to be nowadays. They must be made to read this book' - New Law Journal

`This is a valuable handbook... It sets out to challenge the threat of "legislation of therapy"... with an alternative approach that an understanding of the law, and a closer relationship with it, represents something of an opportunity for therapists to further development by entering the debate... It manages to set out very clearly the different areas under consideration.... This is a book by an academic legal expert which serves as a useful handbook for information. It stems from a counselling perspective [but] is well informed about the current status of psychotherapy in this country, and much of what is said from a legal angle applies to both counselling and psychotherapy' - Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

`This is a timely, comprehensive and up-to-date book which, if widely read, should do much to challenge the counselling professions' regrettable reluctance to engage with the law.... The case material used is lively and.. is drawn from reported legal cases such as those of Beverley Allitt and Diane Blood as well as the author's own research interviews and composite case studies. This gives the book a topical and immediate feel, and, for once, boxed material summarizing the text and questions for the reader to consider at the end of each chapter are incorporated in a natural and accessible way... This is a well-written, clear and readable introduction to an important area of law and professional practice, and practitioners will do well to get hold of a copy and give some thought to the issues it raises. If it makes counsellors and psychotherapists aware of the need to get to grips with legal questions arising from their practice, it will have done the counselling profession an important service' - Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law

`Peter Jenkins is to be congratulated on this clear, concise, comprehensive guide. It's a mine of information - a most useful reference tool... It's all there... clear explanations of the legal processes and the court system, historical background, case-law and examples, rationale and balanced criticism, and it's right up-to-date, with indications of future developments in the law.... I anticipate that this important, authoritative book will become required reading for advanced counselling students and an indispensable resource manual for therapists, supervisors, service-providers and lawyers specializing in the relevant fields' - Counselling News

`Peter Jenkins has put together a comprehensive survey of English law as it relates to, may come to relate to and is assumed (often falsely!) to relate to the practice of counselling and psychotherapy. As a book about the law for therapists written by a therapist, rather than a law book as such, it should have a broad appeal to practitioners and trainees seeking a succinct and accessible overview of the legal framework for their practice... the bulk of the book constitutes a veritable "Cook's tour" of the nooks and crannies of existing English law as it may apply to therapists and their clients: from contract to confidentiality; from defamation to data protection; from stalking and from tort to trade description. Indeed, the book provides useful information about the law that absolutely any citizen and more particularly any provider of a service to the public for payment, should be aware of.... This book should prove a very welcome addition to any practitioner's bookshelf - to be reached for whenever either panic about exposure to the world of the law sets in or complacent insularity takes hold' - The Therapist

`This is the first comprehensive book for counsellors and psychotherapists about the law in the United Kingdom. It is written by a therapist for therapists... an excellent reference book and resource. It is compact and contains a phalanx of examples. I believe it is a necessary text for all training courses of counsellors, psychotherapists and supervisors as well as individual practitioners' - Psychotherapy & Counselling, The Sherwood Psychotherapy Training Institute Magazine