Many questions are being raised about the position, meaning and purposes of counselling and psychotherapy in 21st century Anglo-American society – and not in a good way. Is it redeemable as praxis? Pete presents his view of the future for counselling. ‘If it is to have a future, it…

Philip Thomas explores how neoliberalism, and the resulting ‘malignant individualism’, is infecting mental health policy and provision, and society more widely.

Philip worked as a consultant psychiatrist in the NHS for over 20 years, before leaving clinical practice in 2004 to write. He is a contributor to the forthcoming PCCS book The Industrialisation of Care, to be published early in 2019.

Power, counselling and class - Gillian Proctor Exploring the dynamics of power in the therapy relationship, with particular reference to society and class. Gillian Proctor is the programme leader of the MA in counselling and psychotherapy at the University of Leeds, and editor of a new edition of Counselling, Class…

Steven critiques the current ‘turn to mindfulness’ in the contexts of consumer capitalism, therapeutic culture and religion Steven Stanley is a critical psychologist at Cardiff University and principal investigator of the Mapping Mindfulness social study of the UK mindfulness movement

Critical mental health nursing: politics and compassion - Stephen Williams

Listen to Stephen's presentation here

Mental health services are in crisis. Service user and survivors are fed up with what the NHS offers to meet their needs, and their social marginalisation as ‘disordered’ people. Stephen talks about how mental health nurses, in dynamic collaboration with service users, can transform their practice to become critical, reflexive providers of care for people in emotional distress.

Stephen Williams is a mental health nurse lecturer at the University of Bradford, author of Recovering from Psychosis: Empirical Evidence and Lived Experience and co-editor of the forthcoming PCCS book on critical mental health nursing.

1 - Supervision: a way of life The final of the world logging competition was between a Canadian and a Norwegian. Their task was straightforward: each had a sector of the forest; whoever could fell the most timber between 8am and 4pm would be the winner. At 8am sharp, the whistle…