A wonderfully clear, focused, and practical guide to counselling skills—illustrated, throughout, with dialogues and case descriptions. Informed and informative, this book will be an excellent companion for any trainees taking the first steps in counselling and psychotherapeutic work.

For most trainee counsellors and psychotherapists and, indeed, qualified and experienced practitioners too, there is a small number of ‘go to’ books that shout loudly above the noise.  Those books that not only inform and educate, but transcend to define practice itself.  Counselling Skills in Action, now presented here in its Fourth Edition, is one of those texts.  Megan Stafford and Tim Bond have crafted a piece of work that not only remains vital in today’s contemporary practice landscape, but continues to push boundaries and creates space for innovation.  A very welcome addition to my reading list indeed.