In Advanced Skills and Interventions in Therapeutic Counselling, Gordon Emmerson views the counselling experience as one in which both the practitioner and the client must play an equally committed part in order to resolve his problems and to initiate his own self-growth. The client, therefore, needs to be wholly committed to the process while the counsellor must work with true commitment in his role of maintaining appropriate boundaries, upholding clinical ethics and observing his duty of care to his charge.
Gordon Emmerson's treatise on counselling skills focuses on Ego State therapeutic practice rather than on reflective person-centred counselling or cognitive behavioural techniques. The Ego State discipline considers that the client is a composite of a number of discreet parts which dictate his overall emotive responses and behavioural patterns but, when such states become troublesome, these psychic dilemmas can be resolved in the therapeutic context. An underlying ego state may be problematic for the client when it is born out of negative and/or traumatic experience and has been adopted as an emergency coping-strategy. Ego State philosophy originated as a personality theory devised by Paul Federn in the middle of last century but has been taken up more recently as the basis of a sturdy therapeutic approach by Eloardo Weiss and, notably, John and Helen Watkins. It is to this body of knowledge that Gordon Emmerson has contributed his insightful and comprehensive Advanced Skills and Interventions in Therapeutic Counseling for the benefit of the therapeutic fraternity.
In Advanced Skills and Interventions in Therapeutic Counseling the author spells out succinctly what is entailed in Ego State counselling. The Ego State practitioner will be guided by the author through the process of helping the client to identify, acknowledge, access and maintain a dialogue with his ego states as well as to interact with his introjects as the internalisation of the beliefs, convictions and perceptions of significant others. Gordon Emmerson specifies that the counselling profession demands active listening, keenly focused attention and empathic awareness of the client. Advanced Skills and Interventions in Therapeutic Counseling considers diagnostic criteria and thorough client-assessment to be the vital factors in determining the direction in which therapeutic intervention should veer. The author also provides a number of invaluable strategies for handling the client who is beset by a lack of psychic peace or internal dissent when ego-state negotiation is called for during counselling. The client who is exhibiting a tongue-tied approach to life, a lack of appropriate responses and/or unassertiveness in interpersonal communications may, similarly, be coaxed through the counselling process successfully. For the client who experiences difficulty in overcoming reluctance to face issues and, thereby, exhibits a resistance to locating, naming, acknowledging and initiating a dialogue with his ego states or introjects, the book also outlines various tactics and procedures to assist the counsellor in this respect.
Gordon Emmerson, furthermore, draws attention to the importance of assisting the traumatised client to dig out the root cause of his problems by employing a tripartite procedure for allowing him to express his negative emotions, eliminate fear-sources and achieve peace and contentment. This three-stage intervention can also be utilised for crisis management when the client is hampered by immediate difficulties in daily life with particular reference to grief, bereavement, anger management, relationship issues, depression, addictions, compulsions, sexual abuse and suicidal ideation.
Advanced Skills and Interventions in Therapeutic Counseling provides a thorough backbone to the practice of counselling, in general, and the practice of Ego State therapy, in particular, and thereby leaves the reader in no doubt whatsoever about how to work effectively with the client in order to resolve his distress and trauma. Advanced Skills and Interventions in Therapeutic Counseling is, therefore, a remarkable work which will be well worth the investment for any therapeutic

The main strength of this book is that it is a useful "hands-on" approach to many of the more intractable issues that the modern counsellor is increasingly likely to face. It is, as the author claims "an ADVANCED skills" manual. Therefore I shall be recommending it to my postgraduate students as they will already have the appropriate levels of pre-existing skills and experience necessary to underpin useful applications of the potential learning offered by this book. This is not a book for "faint-hearts" but it will appeal to the BOLD THERAPIST who wishes to address real-life client problems and not to aimlessly drift around in an ill-defined ethereal therapeutic ego fest

What an interesting book to read. It is not for the beginner or newly qualified, but for the more experienced therapist.

Nevertheless, Dr Emmerson still begins at the beginning by re-examining the basics. The book starts with the foundations of counselling and therapy covering ethics, listening skills and duty of care, amongst other issues. And whilst this may seem like teaching Grandma to suck eggs, it is useful and worthwhile for all of us to be reminded of these issues from time to time.

The book then moves into an introduction of Ego States and the theory and origins of Ego State Therapy, which is certainly worthy of note. There are several chapters covering the basic and advanced counselling skills and techniques involved in Ego State Therapy before moving on to applying the skills with various specific disorders and problems.

I liked the fact that the book also contained examples of the therapeutic techniques and how to use them with specific problems so that anyone not familiar with this theoretical framework could get a better understanding of the best ways to use what is covered in the book.

As with all therapy disciplines, it will probably not suit all clients. But as an added string to the therapists bow, it is a very useful tool.

All in all this is a significant work and well worth a read for any serious therapist who really wants to understand and use multiple ways of working with their clients to facilitate change.

Advanced Skills and Interventions in Therapeutic Counseling is the most refreshing text of its kind to appear in many years. Dr. Emmerson thoroughly reviews the fundamentals of the counseling process while bringing to light key new approaches overlooked in other sources. The writing style is clear, concise, and stimulating.

Advanced Skills and Interventions in Therapeutic Counselling is a practical guide for students and professionals to understand not only the basic principles of counselling but also the development of ego states and ego state therapy. The new ideas on personality development give a different perspective and a fresh look at diagnosis. This step-by-step guide from the basic principles of ego state therapy to the advanced skills of practical application can be very useful for training. Clear examples of the therapeutic process with a wide range of disorders and trauma; provide a way to utilize these skills in the process to healing. Definitely a valuable contribution and an asset to the bookshelf!

As a practising clinician I was thrilled to read this book. It is refreshing to find a guide for therapy that starts at the very foundations of any therapy " with ethical guidelines, and listening skills " then logically and sequentially builds on these, through a detailed explanation of the model, to its applications. Gordon applies this approach, which sees clients as complex beings with internal struggles, from basic problems to the more difficult .Throughout, he gives clear step-by-step guidelines, with a multitude of clinical examples; at every step emphasizing the key tenets of this approach - respect, acceptance, negotiation, integration.

It illustrates great concepts for use intrapersonally first, and then maybe there is hope for use interpersonally and internationally!

In this innovative book Dr Emmerson clearly explains and demonstrates, with numerous case examples, powerful ego state therapy techniques to practitioners who seek permanent character changes for their clients in shorter periods of time.

Emmerson shows how to activate and work with covert states without inducing hypnosis. This is a significant contribution to the entire field of psychotherapy.