Counselling and Helping Carers
By J. Mitchell Noon, B.A. (Hons), M.Sc., Psych D.

Much is written about the experience of people who are ill, but relatively little is said about the emotional and material demands made on those who care for people who are ill on a daily basis — family, friends, and caregivers. What are their experiences? How do they cope?

Illustrated with case studies throughout, this guide takes health care and human services professionals "behind the scenes" to discover the challenges that caregivers face. You'll get the basic counseling skills to help them cope with the loss of how life used to be, deal with their own anguish, and make difficult but necessary adjustments. And you'll learn how to deliver advice and information, support and emotional help, and problem-solving strategies. It's an invaluable guide for those who encounter caregivers as part of their day-to-day work.

(A volume in the Communication and Counselling in Health Care Series. Distributed for the British Psychological Society, Leicester, England.)

Foreword

Preface to the Series

1. Introduction
   Terminology
   Organization of the book
   Mrs. A: a life in ten paragraphs
   Issues raised
   Aims of this book
   
   
2. The Task of Caring
   The size of the task
   Characteristics of caring
   Conventions and norms: models of care
   Concluding remarks
   Summary
   
   
3. A Model of Coping
   A framework for understanding difficulties in coping
   The self
   The meaning of behaviour
   Coping in the longer term — access to resources
   Concluding remarks
   Summary
   
   
4. What Needs Do Carers Have?
   Carers' needs
   Characteristics of the relationship between carer and the person cared for
   The material burden of caring
   The emotional burden
   Culture, ethnicity, and carers' needs
   Concluding remarks
   Summary
   
   
5. Helping: The Basic Skills
   The helping relationship
   Pragmatism
   The foundations of helping I: attending and listening skills
   The foundations of helping II: problem exploration and clarification
   Concluding remarks
   Summary
   
   
6. Putting It All Together
   Informational help
   Support and emotional help
   Problem solving
   Emotional help: complex issues
   Concluding remarks
   Summary
   
   
7. Conclusions
   Issues for the helper
   Does it work?
   Concluding remarks
   Summary

Appendix A: Useful organizations/agencies — UK
Appendix B: Useful organizations/agencies — US