This text supports you to develop the counselling competencies aligned to the SCoPEd framework professional standards in Column B. It covers key competencies in client assessment, self-awareness, and knowledge and skills, with chapters on topics such as online counselling, working with unconscious and out-of-awareness processes, foundations of psychological assessment and using reflexivity in practice.
The book further emphasises the importance of research, with chapters on how to understand and evaluate quantitative and qualitative research and how both can enhance your practice. Throughout, the authors foreground diversity-informed and culturally sensitive ways of working, supporting you to adapt your skills and knowledge to meet your clients’ needs.
Each chapter includes learning features such as practice-relevant examples, key definitions and opportunities for reflection, to support you on your learning and professional development journey.
Felicitas Rost is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Psychotherapy at The Open University. She also supervises clinical doctorate students at the Tavistock Clinic and works as a psychodynamic psychotherapist in the charity sector. Felicitas is the President of the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR). She has an internationally recognised profile as a mental health and psychotherapy researcher whose work has had a direct impact on mental health policy in the UK. She has developed a rich and diverse teaching portfolio across undergraduate, postgraduate, and professional training settings over the past 15 years, and has published various peer-reviewed journal articles on topics related to clinical psychology and psychotherapy research.
Naomi Moller trained as a counselling psychologist in the United States. She is a chartered psychologist, a BACP registered counsellor, and a Professor of Psychology and Psychotherapy at The Open University. Naomi has worked with clients for about 25 years, mostly with adults in longer-term therapy. She is an integrative practitioner with humanistic values and relating at the core but draws on other understandings (attachment, psychodynamic) and techniques (emotion-focused therapy).
Tanya Frances is a counsellor and psychotherapist accredited by the BACP, as well as a chartered psychologist with the British Psychological Society. She is a Lecturer in Counselling and Psychology at The Open University and she has a small practice with adult clients doing mostly trauma therapy. Tanya trained in humanistic integrative counselling and psychotherapy and has been in practice for about 12 years. She is also a trauma-informed yoga teacher and yoga therapist in training, with a yoga psychology school in Canada. Tanya is interested in trauma, social and epistemic justice, and intersectional feminist research and clinical practice.
Claudine McFaul is a Lecturer in Psychology and Counselling at The Open University and works as an integrative counsellor registered with the BACP. Her training and professional background are grounded in humanistic approaches, with a particular interest in the existential tradition. Claudine’s research is closely linked to her work with clients and focuses on themes like loss, change, regret and midlife transitions. She is especially interested in how people make sense of these experiences and how we can support the search for hope, perspective and meaning during challenging times.
Gina Di Malta is a Chartered Counselling Psychologist accredited with the BPA, a Senior Lecturer in Psychotherapy and Counselling at The Open University, and the Editor of the international peer-reviewed journal Counselling and Psychotherapy Research. Gina has practised as a counselling psychologist in a range of clinical settings, including NHS Increasing Access for Psychological Therapies (IAPT), NHS primary and secondary care, university counselling services, and charity sectors. She now has a small private psychology practice alongside her academic work.
Hayley Ness is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Counselling at The Open University, a Chartered member of the British Psychological Society and a member of COSCA. She spent 20 years in the field of forensic cognition, with specialisms in applied aspects of memory. She then retrained in integrative, relational counselling with a specialism in couples. Hayley works in a client-focused, integrative way with attachment at the core. Having a background in cognition (memory, language, perception) is particularly useful, both with practice and training. Hayley is currently on the board of directors of Adult and Adolescent Relational Counselling (AARC), a counselling charity in Scotland.
