Additional Information
Book Details
Abstract
Personal development is integral to much counselling and psychotherapy training. Self-awareness and critical reflection are also vital for developing effective therapeutic relationships. This uniquely focused sourcebook offers a fascinating range of approaches to the challenging and sometimes elusive task of self-development and self understanding.
The book begins by introducing four core ways of seeing the 'self': as multiple, contextual, open to change, and always in relation
to the 'other'. In its second part, it brings together a range of specialist practitioners to explore different pathways to self understanding. In particular, the book:
- Features an array of stimuli for thinking about and exploring the self, including music, the written word, visual imagery, the natural environment, transcendence, and body psychotherapy
- Demonstrates self reflection in action with insightful case examples
- Draws on a wide range of theory from humanistic, psychodynamic and integrative perspectives
- Encourages a personal response with discussions, exercises and 'points for reflection' throughout
Self Awareness and Personal Development provides hands-on resources for the ongoing project of exploring the self. It is an invaluable text for students, trainees and practitioners in counselling and psychotherapy.
CHRIS ROSE is a psychotherapist, supervisor and consultant working in private practice and higher education. She has extensive experience in counselling and psychotherapy training as a teacher, group facilitator and course director. She is author of The Personal Development Group: The Students' Guide and is a regular to Therapy Today.
This is an elegant resource book on self-awareness and personal development...encourages mindfulness about our own process and shows how much we still have to learn about ourselves.' -Julia Greer, Therapy Today
'...a delightful book which seeks to provide resources and support to therapists who are engaged in the process of becoming more self-aware as part of their personal development...I would certainly recommend the book to both qualified therapists and trainees as well as to other professionals and friends. Having read it I would also dip back into it again in the future.' - Dr Tina Griffiths, The Journal of Psychological Therapies in Primary Care
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover | Cover | ||
| Half-Title | i | ||
| Title | iii | ||
| Copyright | iv | ||
| Dedication | v | ||
| Contents | vii | ||
| Acknowledgements | x | ||
| Preface | xi | ||
| Notes on Contributors | xiii | ||
| 1 Self Awareness in Psychotherapy and Counselling | 1 | ||
| The difficulties of developing awareness | 2 | ||
| So what is a self? | 4 | ||
| The book | 8 | ||
| Setting out | 10 | ||
| 2 Thinking about the Self | 14 | ||
| Carmen | 15 | ||
| The multiple perspective | 16 | ||
| The narrative perspective | 19 | ||
| The organismic perspective | 21 | ||
| The ethical perspective | 23 | ||
| The relational perspective | 25 | ||
| 3 Developing through Relationships with Others | 30 | ||
| How we respond | 30 | ||
| Resonance | 33 | ||
| Context | 34 | ||
| First impressions | 34 | ||
| Difference and similarity | 37 | ||
| Groups | 37 | ||
| Getting familiar | 41 | ||
| 4 Developing through Conversations | 44 | ||
| Power and authority | 44 | ||
| Time | 46 | ||
| Alison | 47 | ||
| The personal development group | 49 | ||
| Conversations with our selves | 53 | ||
| The internal group | 55 | ||
| 5 Developing through the Written Word | 58 | ||
| Written words and why they are special | 59 | ||
| Developing through reading | 59 | ||
| Developing through our own writing | 61 | ||
| Taking it further | 69 | ||
| Conclusion | 71 | ||
| 6 Developing through Music | 73 | ||
| Collective musical experience | 75 | ||
| Personal meaning in music | 78 | ||
| Communicating with others | 83 | ||
| Bringing it together | 86 | ||
| 7 Developing through Visual Imagery | 90 | ||
| The store of images | 91 | ||
| Making images for self exploration | 92 | ||
| Artistic media | 93 | ||
| Exploring the image | 95 | ||
| Image making to transform mood | 100 | ||
| Creative supervision | 102 | ||
| Taking care of ourselves | 104 | ||
| 8 Developing through Embodiment and Movement | 107 | ||
| Bodily experience and the ‘other’ | 109 | ||
| Self regulation | 110 | ||
| Psyche and soma as dimensions of self | 113 | ||
| Self awareness – an embodied perspective | 121 | ||
| 9 Developing through the Natural Environment | 124 | ||
| 10 Developing through Transcendence | 140 | ||
| Beginning with who I am | 140 | ||
| Seeking transcendence | 141 | ||
| What might transcendence be? | 142 | ||
| Transcendence and encounter | 144 | ||
| Listening and confirming | 145 | ||
| Transcendence and narrative communication | 146 | ||
| Transcendence and metaphor | 147 | ||
| How can I hear a metaphor? | 148 | ||
| The secular and the religious | 149 | ||
| Mindful of the transcendent: a case study in listening | 151 | ||
| Conclusion – the negative way | 154 | ||
| 11 Developing through This Book | 156 | ||
| Introductions and beyond | 157 | ||
| Taking it further | 159 | ||
| Creative spaces | 160 | ||
| Conclusion | 165 | ||
| Bibliography | 168 | ||
| Index | 175 |