Face to Face with Distress

de Elizabeth Barnes, Peter Griffiths, Diane Wells

How can professionals manage the boundary between personal involvement and professional detachment when faced constantly by people in distress? The authors explore a broad range of perspectives on this question, from philosophical enquiry to the dilemmas of everyday practice. They draw on a common experience of psychosocial nurse training at the Cassel Hospital - a therapeutic community based on psychodynamic ideas and experiential learning. Now, writing from a variety of different settings, they show how personal feelings can provide a key to understanding and containing the emotional needs of people in distress. They demonstrate the central role of shared reflection with colleagues for developing skills, practical theories and theory-based practice. This book is for all practitioners ...