Table of Contents

Part I: Understanding the young person
1. The nature of adolescence
2. The influence of childhood experiences
3. Young people’s environments
4. The development of mental health problems
Part II: Counselling Young People and the Proactive Approach
5. Making counselling relevant for young people
6. Theoretical Foundations for a Proactive Approach
7. Promoting change in young people
Part III: A Proactive Process for Counselling Young People
8. The primary counselling functions
9. Proactive counselling in action
10. Counselling micro-skills
11. Symbolic strategies
12. Creative strategies
13. Behavioural and cognitive behavioural strategies
14. Psycho-educational strategies
15. Mindfulness Strategies
16. The use of technology when counselling young people
Part IV: Proactive counselling in practice
17. Professional and ethical issues
18. Case studies

About the Author

Dr Kathryn Geldard is now retired from clinical practice. She continues to conduct training workshops for counsellors and organisations and facilitate professional development supervision groups. Her academic career as senior lecturer in counselling at Queensland University of Technology and in the faculty of Arts and Business at the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC), Australia includes programme leadership of the Counselling programme as well as development of the postgraduate Master of Counselling degrees. She is the author of a several textbooks founded on her extensive clinical counselling background with children, young people and their families.



David Geldard had extensive experience in working as a counselling psychologist with troubled children and their families. He worked in mental health and community health settings, and in private practice.  Rebecca Yin Foo is an Educational and Developmental Psychologist who is experienced in providing psychological support for children with developmental disabilities and their families at the Cerebral Palsy League. Her work has led her to take a high level of practical and academic interest in ways of working with children to promote optimal positive outcomes. She currently works in private practice in Brisbane, Australia. Prior to obtaining her honours degree in Psychology and Master’s degree in Educational and Developmental Psychology she completed a Bachelor of Medical Engineering. She has published a number of journal articles and presented conference papers nationally and internationally in relation to her studies in both Engineering and Psychology. She is the third author of the book, Counselling Children: A Practical Introduction.