Adrian Ward is a senior lecturer in the Department of Community Studies at the University of Reading., Linnet McMahon lectures in Therapeutic Child Care at the University of Reading and is also a play therapist, supervisor and trainer.

• Introduction; Part 1 A basis for thinking about therapeutic practice; Chapter 1 The inner world and its implications, Adrian Ward; Chapter 2 Helping and the personal response, Linnet McMahon, Adrian Ward; Chapter 3 Helping together, Adrian Ward; Chapter 4 The difficulty of helping, Adrian Ward; Chapter 5 A model for practice: the therapeutic community, Adrian Ward; Part 2 Creating a model; Chapter 6 The matching principle, Adrian Ward; Chapter 7 Meeting to learn and learning to meet, Adrian Ward; Chapter 8 Working at understanding and helping troubled children 1 Practice examples supplied by: John Tuberville and Simon Peacock., Linnet McMahon; Chapter 9 Learning through philosophy, Paul Cain; Chapter 10 Learning in the Experiential Group, Teresa Howard; Chapter 11 The function of the staff meeting, Adrian Ward, Linnet McMahon, Paul Cain, Teresa Howard; Chapter 12 On the experience of keeping a reflective journal while training, Deborah Best; Part 3 Returning to practice; Chapter 13 Alice and her blanket: a case study, Ros Wheeler; Chapter 14 Therapeutic work in an educational setting, Deborah Best; Chapter 15 Therapeutic work in daily living settings, Linnet McMahon; Chapter 16 Using the situation, John Diamond; Part 4 Conclusions; Chapter 17 On ‘reflection’, Adrian Ward; Chapter 18 Applying the matching principle, Adrian Ward;