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Counselling Older People with Alcohol Problems

Counselling Older People with Alcohol Problems

Mike Fox and Lesley Wilson
Foreword by Dr. Martin Blanchard

Paperback: £20.99 / $34.95

2011, 234mm x 156mm / 9.25in x 6in, 208pp
ISBN: 978-1-84905-117-0, BIC 2: JKSN2 JKSG MMZR

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Alcohol misuse is becoming an increasingly significant issue for people aged 55 and over, and providing effective counselling services to this growing client group requires a unique and specialised approach. This practical guide explores the factors that differentiate older drinkers, and introduces an innovative person-centred model that will help counsellors and other healthcare professionals to give older people with alcohol problems the help and support they need.

Older people with alcohol problems often have complex personal histories, and are particularly vulnerable to long-term dependency, social isolation and self-medication. This book explores the influences, patterns and triggers that affect the development and progression of alcohol dependency in this age group, and provides a detailed description of a theoretical model and therapeutic process that has proved successful in practice. Informative case studies demonstrate the approach in action and guidance is also given for working with clients with dementia or mental health problems.

This book will prove an invaluable resource for counsellors and other healthcare professionals who encounter alcohol problems in their clinical practice, including clinical psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists and community psychiatric nurses.

Blog posts

Counselling Older People with Alcohol Problems – An Interview with JKP authors Mike Fox and Lesley Wilson

21 January 2011

" I find that older people are often patronised, and their ability to recover and make changes in their lives is often not acknowledged. Dr Martin Blanchard speaks in the Foreword of a ‘therapeutic nihilism’ that exists in attitudes towards the client group described in the book. One effect of this is that older people are often expected to fit into generic treatment systems, when they clearly have needs that will not be met by those systems. Thus the need for a specialist approach such as the book describes."