Person Centred Practice for Complex Times: Stories and Insights

Join us for a special book-launch conversation where John interviews Mairi, the Editor of the new Routledge volume Applying the Person-Centred Approach to Global, Social and Personal Crises: Contemporary Challenges, edited by Mairi McMenamin and Kate Munro and published within the Explorations in Mental Health series (2025).

Together, John and Mairi will explore how the book came into being, from the initial proposal through to publication. They will reflect on the decision to take a person-centred approach to commissioning, development and peer review, and the practical implications of holding person-centred values throughout a complex editorial and publishing process.

The session will open a window into the authors’ contributions and their shared commitment to a story-led approach. Participants will hear how non-directivity shaped both the writing and the editorial journey, including the gains and challenges of maintaining this stance while working with a publisher and coordinating a diverse group of contributors.

Drawing on themes from the book, the discussion will address what emerged from the stories gathered across global, social and personal contexts.

This includes:

• the sustaining theory of Carl Rogers and its contemporary relevance
• the ongoing importance of supervision and self-care
• the active, engaged nature of the PCA, challenging the misconception that the approach is passive
• the unambiguous commitment across the chapters to applying the PCA in real-world contexts, including work with trauma
• the passion for the PCA and PCE that comes through from the contributors’ lived experience and professional practice

This event also aims to encourage practitioners to publish their own work, offering insight into how a person-centred ethos can guide the creation of professional literature. It is an opportunity to reflect on the book’s contribution to current debates around mental health, crises and social change, and to consider how the PCA continues to offer a vital framework for contemporary therapeutic and psychosocial challenges.

RECORDING

This event will be recorded and the recording is included in the self-select admission ticket. This will be useful for colleagues who are not able to attend the event live and also for those who attend the event live and want to watch it again.

ZOOM 

This event will be hosted on the Zoom meeting platform where we will use our cameras and microphones to interact with each other as a group.

SELF-SELECT FEE

The self-select fee is a radical inclusion policy to open learning for all colleagues. The guide price for this event is £20.00, however, we appreciate that income varies greatly in different locations and circumstances. Please contribute what you can to help us maintain inclusive professional training.

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If you are not a member of a professional organisation, we ask that you participate in a way that is both authentic and respectful, fostering a space of mutual learning and professional engagement.

By registering for this event, you agree to be present and interact in a manner that reflects these principles.

Mairi McMenamin

Mairi McMenamin worked in nursing, public health and community development work before qualifying as a person-centred counsellor with a post-graduate diploma from the University of Strathclyde. She is also a person-centred supervisor and for many years worked in various Board capacities for PCE World and PCT Scotland. Although she had spent her early career in the helping professions her first encounter with the PCA was transformative, like finding herself ‘at home’. Since then, she has worked as a counsellor, supervisor, trainer and writer with an undiminished passion for the PCA.