Hope appears in ancient Greek mythology with the story of Zeus and Prometheus. Prometheus stole fire from the god Zeus, which infuriated the supreme god. In turn, Zeus created a dowry chest that contained all manners of evil and admonished Pandora not to look inside her dowry chest. When Pandora finally reached Earth, of course, the first thing that she did was to open the lid to take a peek.

This paper provides a review of Personcentred approached which is drawn from humanistic counselling. I review this approach to counselling with a specific focus on the Rogerian approach. The humanistic approach emerged with the works of Maslow, then later Carl Rogers, Rollo May and Eric Frome.
What resonates for me is Carl Rogers’ Person-centred theory as a message
of hope for both the counsellor and the client. The notion that individuals are
capable of self-actualising tendencies, being creative, finding their own
answers became a new way of thinking about the client-counsellor process. In
essence, I reflect on the seminal work of Rogers and its influence across a
range of disciplines.

If you were alive and compos mentis
in the 1960s you would remember
the hula hoop craze. Well, more
recently, an unknown cynic said
that “if 2020 was a hula hoop it would
be made of barbed wire”. It was truly
a year to endure and for some, a year
to forget. Stories abound in the media
where COVID 19 has separated or
devastated families and some reports
estimate it has resulted in millions of
deaths while lockdowns and restricted
travel has bought the economies of
many nations to their knees.

In some health services, mental health
is relegated to the unenviable position
similar to that of the fictional ‘Cinderella’,
and considered less important than
other health concerns. Is mental health
the ‘Cinderella’ in church as well? We
will first consider why this question is
important, before taking a closer look
at the history of mental health care in
Christian churches.

This paper is written to encourage
consideration of the psychic reality
of grief, with its emotional impact.
It proposes the possibility that as we
allow ourselves to move into grief, as we
understand and accept, new energy and
action can emerge. Old assumptions
of power, prestige, self fulfillment, and
inequality can change. New, better ways
to cope can emerge from the groaning
in grief.

This paper is a reflection upon my own journey through the valley of the shadow of death. I have presented this in the hope that it may encourage others as well as give tools for grief counselling.

There is a presumption that coming
closer to a higher power has positive
consequences. An evangelist might call
that a conversion experience yet is that
not just the beginning of the journey?
As a person draws closer to God there
potential for a deeper richer and more
effective life is enhanced and this might
be defined as the ultimate freedom. Once
freed does the spirit then sour and in
doing so lead a therapist to reach their
fullest potential?

This is an immensely practical and encouraging book giving a Christian Integrative approach to supervision. The Author gives a valuable and substantial overview of psychological theories, research and clinical practice and weaves these into a Christian model of supervision.

A literature review of factors that may be predictors of whether a person is likely to succeed in retirement. A successful retirement would be defined as a person who is well adjusted and has lived for no less than ten years after leaving paid employment, enjoys reasonable health, is well adjusted mentally and physically and engaged in activities of daily life. Factors that could be predictors might include financial security, family history, religious beliefs, culture, attitude to life, age at retirement and relational support.

The research indicates a need for a long-term study of this important subject given the possibilities of intervention at either a pre-retirement or post retirement phase of development.

This article explains how the postmodern
conception of truth can be related to
a Christian understanding of truth by
using the Russian Babushka dolls as a
metaphor. Babushka dolls represent a
family, made up of four dolls that fit inside
each other – a father, mother, son and
daughter. They illustrate that the way we
can integrate our Christian understanding
of truth with postmodern relativism is to
conceive truth as having four tiers.

When I was a young Christian, I was told -in hushed tones which bespoke both disgust and stigma -that people struggling with depression lacked spirituality. After many years, such stigma and misunderstanding still exists and it’s important that we, as Counsellors/Psychotherapists, are not only well acquainted with the problem of depression, but that we can also undo some of the very real stigma, shame and guilt which is so often still attached to the problem of depression.

In response, this paper will consider the following issues: the reality of depression, the root causes of depression and a variety of healing responses which Counsellors may use in their work

This essay will describe and reflect on how the author is delivering supervision to a group of social workers and therapists in The Peoples Republic of China (China). This supervision practice is shaped by the cultural context of this group of generally inexperienced practitioners. The author researched additional articles that address the sociopolitical context for providing a culturally appropriate model of external clinical supervision to this group.

During the 1960’s and 1970’s I was providing a counselling practice in Sydney’s housing commission area in the Western Suburbs.

In those years I was introduced to many clients suffering the trauma of severe sexual abuse both as children and adults. One thing became obvious to me at the time was the inadequacy of the talk therapy models available to offer any more than comfort with little prospect of real change.

This lead to my searching for alternate models.

Abuse, particularly sexual abuse, robs a person of the right to possession of their own body. Locked tissue is no longer available to the person but is left to remain property of the abuser. It seemed to me that the therapeutic task was to assist clients in the repossession of their own bodies. But how?