Therapeutic practice is becoming more explicitly ‘relational’ with many therapists describing themselves as being relational. But what does it actually mean?
Therapy Tales draws on 13 evocative and thought-provoking clinical stories that bring to life the relational nature of the psychotherapeutic process and practice. Through these tales, I examine the therapeutic process in depth. I strive to highlight how - behind apparently simple stories - therapy can be overwhelmingly intense, painful, puzzling, ambiguously inchoate, as well as nourishing. The synthesising discussions that follow each story are written specifically for therapists and trainees seeking to critically reflect on the experience of the therapeutic process, build their evidence-based professional practice, and deepen their understanding of relational ethics. Throughout, I try to foreground theoretical and practice debates around what effective relational therapy involves and how healing takes place.
My aim is to show the sheer fascination, depth, poignancy and power of what happens in the relational therapy space. I emphasise how therapists work with complex human beings who have complex histories, and that therapy processes are similarly layered. Demonstrating a wide range of approaches, I hope this will help you, the reader, see how many concepts and practices are contested, and how their applications depend on the therapist’s chosen approach/modality as well as the relational-social context. Organised into two sections, the seven therapy tales in Part I foreground work with individuals’ intrapsychic, relational worlds, involving embodied, dialogical encounters. The six stories in Part II apply a more explicit socio-cultural lens, showing how our social worlds mesh.
I hope this book will be of interest to students, therapists and clients alike, and also for those simply curious to understand more about what happens behind psychotherapy’s closed doors
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07-06-2026
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