Living Well and Dying Well

Older people rarely feature in counselling literature, and the very old barely at all. Helen Kewell describes her encounters with some of the old and very old clients with whom she has worked as a counsellor. The common thread is the recognition of the human potential for growth, change and acceptance, regardless of age and ill health.

---

Older people rarely feature in counselling literature, and the very old barely at all. Helen Kewell seeks to address this often overlooked topic with a vibrant collection of resonant case studies describing her encounters with some of the old and very old clients with whom she has worked as a counsellor. Woven into these accounts are her personal reflections on how working with these clients has changed her and contributed to her own growth as a counsellor and as a human being. She also describes the theoretical and philosophical works that have influenced her practice - looking to humanistic, existentialist and person-centred approaches to guide her in this largely uncharted territory. Among the people described in this book, we meet Maggie, for whom death is very close and whose day-to-day experiencing is insular, private and diminished to one room and a few hours of wakefulness. We meet Kate, for whom reawakened feelings from long ago and the challenge to strongly held beliefs prove too much to face. We meet Bobby, who valiantly engages in reassessing and reconstructing his life narrative and through this finds some release, and Susan, who finds herself facing life transitions much earlier than expected and learns to transcend her circumstances and find a new way of living. And last, we meet Tom who, despite the loss of all he holds dear, manages also to transcend his circumstances and face death on his own terms. Helen's aim in this book is to use story-telling about real people living real lives to inspire others to consider this work as possible, necessary and meaningful. Who is this book for?The book will appeal to practising counsellor and psychotherapists, particularly those from humanistic traditions and specialising in bereavement and palliative care settings, and more widely to anyone - professionals and care workers alike - working with elderly people in a caring or therapeutic capacity, in the residential and nursing care sectors and the voluntary sector. It will also be of interest to trainee counsellors, general and mental health nurses, occupational therapists and GPs, and to trainers.