Dr Barbara Mitchels, is a practising psychotherapist and a Fellow of BACP. A retired solicitor, Barbara , combines the professions of law and therapy in CPD workshops, providing a specialist consultancy service for counselling professionals and the BACP and contributions to the BACP’s Good Practice in Action Legal Guidance series. She led the writing of the Ethical Guidelines for Research in the Counselling Professions (BACP 2018a), and other recent publications include Children and Vulnerable Witnesses in Court: A Practice Handbook (Wiley, Simmonds and Hill 2018).
This fourth book in the authoritative BACP Legal Resources for Counsellors & Psychotherapists series provides practical examples and applications of the law as it applies to therapists in the many different contexts of their work. Helping practitioners move between different practice settings, the book explores how the legal framework within which they work varies across contexts. It introduces practitioners to the statutory structure and obligations of different types of counseling and psychotherapy services, setting out implications for practice such as liability and accountability. Work settings covered include:Private practice Commercial organizations – Employee Assistance ProgramsVoluntary sectorGovernment Health settings (NHS): primary and secondaryPrivate Health settings: primary and secondaryEducation/Schools/FE/HESocial servicesPolice and Home OfficeFor each setting, the book considers the statutory basis, how the legal framework impacts on services to clients, systemic issues such as bullying or prejudicial discrimination, responsibility for decision making, and the restrictions and empowerment of therapists and clients within the context of that setting.This book is an essential reference for counseling practitioners working across a range of practice settings, including those with portfolio careers. It is also important reading for all those studying counseling, psychotherapy or clinical psychology.
