Relating to Clients

The relationship between practitioner and client in professional therapeutic contexts is a crucial factor in the healing process. This practical guide draws on the vast body of information on that relationship from psychotherapy and presents it in a distilled and relevant format for the complementary therapist.It encourages practitioners to think about their own preferred styles of relating to clients and, using their own somatic awareness, to understand what may be going on in the relationship. Su Fox emphasises the importance of self care, boundary management, clear communication, clear contracting and good listening as the basis for achieving the expected behaviours and attitudes described in the various codes of ethics for complementary therapists. Additionally, with the use of helpful exercises and illustrative case histories, she presents strategies for managing 'difficult' clients and for working with one's own difficult feelings about them.Drawn from experience both as a practitioner and as a client in a range of therapeutic contexts, the advice in this book is indispensable for complementary therapy practitioners and students in the field, and is also of interest to anyone working with others in a 'helping' capacity.