Counsellors in Health Settings

Focusing on the experiences of counselors themselves, this book is a comprehensive resource for counselors working in heath contexts and for the health professionals who work with them, and may take on counseling roles. The contributors, who include clients, health care workers, psychiatrists and academics as well as counselors, show how counseling can and should form an integral part of a patient's health care, explaining key theoretical considerations and relevant research and applying these to suggestions for good practice. They also discuss the needs of counselors themselves (for example for supervision and support) and the variety of roles that counselors and health care workers are expected to fulfill. This book will inform and improve the work of professionals in a range of health care contexts including those working with patients who have cancer, HIV and AIDS or who are having treatment for infertility; and in the fields of young people's sexual health and palliative care.