ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the human and personal aspects of practice and theory in the therapy field. It focuses on 'the personal equation' as somewhat neglected in the forging of people's professional positions. He also discusses aspects of the image of the Wounded Healer as these relate to the spectrum of thinking about therapy's relational turn. The 'personal equation' is the bias that the observer brings to his or her observation, and to subsequent thinking and theorising. The relation of the therapist to their work as a whole is much discussed in private but rarely in public. The chapter discusses the client's power in relation to the therapist, and the client's power in relation to themselves. The client's power is delimited by what has come to be called 'the diversity agenda' in the therapy professions. This means the specific nature of the client's position: age, money, sex and sexuality, health, nationality, ethnicity, religion.
