`[In this book] "difficult clients" is meant as "difficulties with clients"... I like to be challenged in my thinking and there was much about this book that I found thought-provoking and challenging, and which made me re-examine my basic philosophy and approach to counselling... For the newly trained counsellor this book offers organizational, practical and theoretical advice... it gives a good academic overview of understanding how client-counsellor interactions can become difficult, together with some preventative techniques and case-work examples' - Counselling, The Journal of The British Association for Counselling

Counsellors and other mental health professionals will inevitably encounter clients who are difficult to work with because they do not comply with the basic requirements of forming a trusting relationship and accepting help or advice. Such clients can place an enormous strain on those who try to help them. This book sets out practical guidelines, backed up by examples and a sound theoretical base, for the management of these difficult, disturbed or disturbing clients.

The authors concentrate on the everyday difficulties of the transaction between practitioner and client in their respective social contexts, rather than locating the problems solely within the client, and indicate ways in which these difficulties can be successfully overcome.

The Counselling Transaction
The Influence of Past Interactions
Counselling Transactions in Context
Assessment for Counselling
Practical Points
From Beginning to End
Preserving Respective Roles
Restoring the Public-Personal Equilibrium
Utilising Contextual Influences
Interface with Other Models