Introduction: Assessment Complexities -- Purpose of counselling and the influence of this on assessment -- Waves of theory -- Method maps -- The Climate of Counselling -- Power and the therapeutic relationship -- The 'isms' -- Ethnicity and culture -- Gender -- Class -- Linguistics -- Adultism -- Sexuality -- Assessment: What, When and How? -- Holistic intake assessment -- Selection of intervention for clients -- Formulations and theory -- Ongoing assessment -- Assessment for ending -- Risk assessment -- An assessment framework -- Psychodynamic Approaches: A Map of the Ocean -- Freudian theory -- Defences -- Ego functions -- Kleinian psychotherapy -- Transference and counter-transference -- Psychodynamic explanations of personality development -- Feminism and psychodynamic counselling -- Central philosophy -- Undertaking an assessment -- Advantages and disadvantages -- Transactional Analysis: A 'Games' Map -- Structural analysis -- Scripts -- Strokes and discounting -- Life positions -- When is TA counselling needed? -- What about motivation? -- Application to assessment -- Advantages and disadvantages -- Cognitive Approaches: Handy Road Maps -- Cognitive-behavioural therapy -- Rational-emotive therapy -- The lifeskills model -- Implications of CBT and RET for assessment -- Advantages and disadvantages -- The Person-Centred Approach: A Growth Map -- Philosophical links -- Implications for assessment -- Endings -- Advantages and disadvantages -- Outcomes -- The Narrative Approach: A Forecast Map.

This text helps clarify the nature and purpose of assessment in counselling. It explores the theoretical underpinnings of assessment across the core therapeutic schools and addresses critical differences in the meanings and importance deferred to it.