Counselling by Telephone

Most counsellors use the telephone to interact with clients to some degree. The potential client base which can be reached in telephone counselling is enormous, and the rapid development in telecommunications technology is having a dramatic impact on the development of counselling provision.

Supportive, instructive and practical, Maxine Rosenfield explores the essential skills needed to carry out effective telephone counselling - such as welcoming and establishing a relationship with clients; listening and responding; understanding silences; working with transference and fantasy; and recognizing and reacting to feelings - which are necessarily very often distinct from those involved in face-to-face counselling. The book challenges the view that telephone counselling is a poor relation to face-to-face counselling, arguing that for certain clients it may in fact be the therapeutic medium of choice.

The author, an experienced telephone counsellor, goes on to examine the benefits to both clients and counsellors of working by telephone, and highlights the technical and practical issues of which counsellors should be aware. Also covered are the relatively new concepts of group counselling by telephone and counselling by other media, such as e-mail or letter.

This book will be a valuable resource for trainee and practising counsellors, and for those in the helping professions who want to work, or are already working, with clients by telephone, and who want to understand the difference between counselling skills and counselling on the phone.