Counselling Young People

Richard has caught wonderfully in this text the sensitivity and delicacies of therapeutic interaction as well as the complex processes through which young people have to steer in their development towards adulthood. Richard’s important and engaging text combines believable stories of young people with the provision of theoretical comment and developmental questions for the practitioner. I trust that this book will reach a wide audience of all those who are interested in and committed to the welfare and development of young people.

This book goes a long way in explaining why the person-centred approach is so powerful with young people. It teases apart many of the fears, hurts, disappointments, familiar problems and social assaults that encourage adolescents to close off, turn to drugs, and attack others. After a clear and concise explanation of the theory, Richard takes us on amazing journeys into the heart and mind of the clients described in the book. They are struggling with many of the obstacles in the path of most children trying to grow up in this period of social toxicity. The book is a real gift to anybody interested in raising and counselling young people.

— Peggy Natiello, in the Foreword