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Voluntary sector counselling: Has inadequate research resulted in a misunderstood and underutilised resource?
Author(s) -
Moore Sandra
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
counselling and psychotherapy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.38
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1746-1405
pISSN - 1473-3145
DOI - 10.1080/14733140601045429
Subject(s) - voluntary sector , agency (philosophy) , work (physics) , resource (disambiguation) , psychological therapy , psychology , core (optical fiber) , public relations , business , psychotherapist , medicine , nursing , sociology , political science , psychiatry , engineering , computer science , social science , mechanical engineering , computer network , anxiety , telecommunications
Although much counselling already takes place in the voluntary sector, little is known about the nature of the work being done or about its effectiveness or the training and experience of its practitioners. Given the gap between the demand for and supply of psychological therapies in Britain today, lack of research into the effectiveness of this work could mean that a valuable resource is being under‐utilised. This paper describes a study of a large, generic counselling centre and, using the CORE monitoring and evaluation system, makes comparisons between its work and that of a number of NHS psychological therapy services. It shows; that it is of at least as complex or severe a nature; and that it is as effective. It also shows that the therapy carried out in this agency is done by appropriately qualified and experienced practitioners.