Brief counselling in schools - Dennis Lines

`Dennis Lines does not avoid addressing the thorny problems of limitations which can face school counsellors, particularly if they are working peripatetically. The chapter on adolescence is comprehensive, and considers the interplay between physical, emotional and cognitive influences at this stage of young peoples development, and the overall impact of puberty. Contrasting therapeutic orientations are described with particular consideration given to how they each best fit into the school system - BACP North London Magazine

`Brief Counselling in Schools is an invitation to the school or student counsellor from any discipline to think about their practice. It is a book to be read and for me, it was time well-spent. Indeed, Dennis Liness closing remarks has a reassuringly timeless quality, as he likens the counselling relationship to being a fellow traveller en route to finding the preferred self. That does not sound like such a brief undertaking after all - Young Minds Magazine

`The book advocates an approach to counselling which is highly appropriate for schools and colleges. It should be a core text for courses promoting counselling skills in teachers - Ron Best, University of Surrey Roehampton

The book offers many thoughtful guidelines for experienced school counsellors in the UK and elsewhere who are interested in conducting brief therapy with students - Psychiatric Services Journal

School is often a pressured hive of activity where personal problems and peer group tensions arise, but have no time or place to be properly addressed. Pupils need for pastoral support and care is therefore great, especially approaching and during the most challenging developmental stage of being a teenager.

Brief Counselling in Schools is a practical guide to providing help and support to young people experiencing a range of difficulties in their home and school lives. Recognizing the constraints of working within school settings, the book illustrates how counselling can nevertheless be effective, even when time is short and confidentiality is hard to preserve.

Written by an experienced practitioner, the book provides a method of brief integrative counselling which can be adapted to the range of problems which pupils bring to counselling. Based around case material the chapters look at issues of:

- self-esteem

- depression and suicidal thoughts

- bullying

- parental separation and step-parent conflict

- loss and bereavement

- spiritual concerns

- smoking, drug and alcohol use

- sexuality.

As the need for pastoral support and care for children continues to grow, this book will be invaluable to those offering counselling within schools. This includes trained counsellors and those involved in teaching and education welfare who are increasing their skills in this area.