Book excerpt: First published in 1995. Between them, Janet Tolan and Susan Lendrum have nearly thirty years of experiences as counselling trainers. They have worked as practitioners in fields as diverse as voluntary telephone counselling, personnel work in industry, primary health care and local government. Following the recent rapid rise in counselling training, Case Material and Role Play in Counselling Training is the long awaited answer to the demand for an accessible and practical guide for trainers and educators in counselling skills, therapeutic counsellors and psychotherapists. It offers help to those designing a course and to those wondering how to enliven their training sessions. Part one describes how case materials and role play can form part of an overall training programme, and offers step-by-step instructions on how to use or adapt them. Part two comprises over 250 case vignettes and role plays and is further divided into two sections. The first covers core relationship skills such as beginnings and endings, empathy and ethical issues. The second covers practice issues such as loss and bereavement, sexuality and depression. Part two is cross-referenced so that readers looking for particular materials can select them according to: the work setting of their client group; the age of their client group; the stage of the relationship; or the focus of counselling.