ABSTRACT
Person-centred therapy is being effectively used with a range of clients who, and issues which, may be seen as outside the usual remit of psychotherapy. According to Pearce and Sommerbeck (2014: v), some of these have been thought of as ‘beyond therapeutic reach’. Their examples include people who are contact-impaired due to learning disabilities or autism, severely withdrawn, demented or terminally ill. Their book demonstrates that person-centred therapists have much to offer people who are what they refer to as the ‘difficult edge’. Person-centred therapists also work effectively with people who are not ‘ill’, probably not necessarily distressed but who have particular circumstances with respect to (for example) their age, the nature of their relationships or some kind of special need. What follows are some examples of person-centred practice with clients in these two categories.
