`This Second Volume of Counselling is a comprehensive array of articles which convey the breadth and depth of the specialty as it grew during the 1990s. The volume brings together the most important and influential papers published in Counselling, the official journal of the BACP as it then was, over the last decade.

In all, 92 articles have been chosen and scrupulously checked by the editors and, in most cases, the original authors, to fill the 680 pages of the Second Volume. These provide direct access to the main theories, practices and issues which underpin and continue to shape counselling and psychotherapy today. Each article concludes with discussion points to provoke further thought and study. For ease of access these papers are clustered in five sections: counselling approaches; contexts and practice; counselling issues; research: and the future. We can expect the number of research articles to double in the next volume as the way opens up for all practitioners to consider research a crucial part of professional life. The final section on the future has been written by the past Chief Executive of the BACP, and contains insight and wisdom on the challenges facing the profession at the dawn of the new century, with statutory regulation only a few years away.

BACP receives many requests for back copies of the journal, Counselling, upon which this Reader is based, for use in training courses and programmes. The Second Volume of the Reader merits at least one copy in every medical library across the land for use not only in counselling and psychotherapy training, but for all those healthcare workers who use counselling skills in their work' - Maggie Pettifer, past Head of Publishing of BACP for Counselling and Psychotherapy Research

Counselling provides direct access to the main theories, practices and issues which have underpinned and which continue to shape the development of counselling today. Combining accessible research studies with professional and personal reflections, the Reader draws on a diverse and authoritative range of articles to cover the key aspects of counselling, including:

· counselling approaches

· contexts and practice

· counselling issues

· research; and

· future trends

The Reader is ideal for use in training. It provides a wealth of source material and each article concludes with discussion issues to help initiate further thought and study. Students, trainees and practitioners in counselling and other professions will find this essential reading which challenges them to think deeply about counselling as it is practised today, and as it will be in the future.