ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the development of primary care counselling in the National Health Service in England, Wales and Scotland. The context in which primary care counselling undertook its most dramatic growth – the 1990s – was also one of changes in the structure within which the counsellor was to work, particularly with the take-up of fund-holding. Training provision since the inception of primary care counselling has, to say the least, been variable and patchy. The primary care counsellor has had to tolerate a working environment of uncertainty and change. Not only have primary care counsellors struggled as they fought to establish themselves as a profession in primary care, they have also had the issue of regulation to contend with. One of the most important roles provided by the counsellor is that of ‘container’. Counsellors are able to contain fear around mental health issues, the anxieties of patients and staff.
