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Product reviews for Their Finest Hour
Sue Rowe MBACP (Accred), Counsellor, supervisor and counselling tutor
Throughout the summer, this book lay on my coffee table and every time I had a few moments to spare I could dip in and enjoy it, one chapter at a time. By the end of August I had worked my way effortlessly through 27 real-life narratives of client/therapist relationships selected as outstanding by those who experienced them.
It would be impossible to summarise the content of these stories because they were all unique and idiosyncratic encounters, but what did strike me was how so many cases illustrated what I have always believed to be true ” that when we stop theorising, diagnosing, interpreting and trying to be the expert, we do our best work.
Time and time again these “masters' conclude that when they enter into a genuine human relationship with their clients, when they get real and put the rulebook aside, things truly start to happen.
The contributors interviewed by Kottler and Carlson come from many different professional and theoretical orientations, yet this common theme runs through them all.
It is comforting to know that even those described as “masters', names such as Albert Ellis, John Gray, Arnold Lazarus, Michael Mahoney, Scott Miller, to name but a few, suffer from moments of uncertainty and self doubt just like the rest of us. In these chapters they don't only share successes and learning but they admit to being stuck, feeling incompetent, inadequate and asking themselves why they do this work.
The final chapters from Kottler and Carlson reflect on the whole project of conducting the interviews and the two collaborators share some of their own learning from the experience. Kottler marvels at how he finds so many therapists “filled with love' for their clients and their work, while Carlson says that what he learned from writing the book is that therapy can be more “fun' and talks of the need “to be myself, show compassion and caring for my client' and “enjoy the relationship'. I couldn't agree more.
-˜This review first appeared in therapy today, the professional journal of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy'.
It would be impossible to summarise the content of these stories because they were all unique and idiosyncratic encounters, but what did strike me was how so many cases illustrated what I have always believed to be true ” that when we stop theorising, diagnosing, interpreting and trying to be the expert, we do our best work.
Time and time again these “masters' conclude that when they enter into a genuine human relationship with their clients, when they get real and put the rulebook aside, things truly start to happen.
The contributors interviewed by Kottler and Carlson come from many different professional and theoretical orientations, yet this common theme runs through them all.
It is comforting to know that even those described as “masters', names such as Albert Ellis, John Gray, Arnold Lazarus, Michael Mahoney, Scott Miller, to name but a few, suffer from moments of uncertainty and self doubt just like the rest of us. In these chapters they don't only share successes and learning but they admit to being stuck, feeling incompetent, inadequate and asking themselves why they do this work.
The final chapters from Kottler and Carlson reflect on the whole project of conducting the interviews and the two collaborators share some of their own learning from the experience. Kottler marvels at how he finds so many therapists “filled with love' for their clients and their work, while Carlson says that what he learned from writing the book is that therapy can be more “fun' and talks of the need “to be myself, show compassion and caring for my client' and “enjoy the relationship'. I couldn't agree more.
-˜This review first appeared in therapy today, the professional journal of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy'.
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13/11/2008 00:00
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