Counselling by Telephone

This book 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.Maxine Rosenfield challenges the view that telephone counselling is a poor relation to face-to-face counselling, arguing that for certain clients it may be the therapeutic medium of choice. She examines the benefits to both clients and counsellors of working by telephone, and highlights the technical and practical issues of which counsellors should be aware. She also covers the relatively new concepts of group counselling by telephone and counselling by other media, such as e-mail or letter.