Book excerpt: Personal Development and Clinical Psychology is a vital reference text for all those involved in clinical psychology and related professions. This book offers a comprehensive exploration of the methods, approaches, theories and issues surrounding personal development, incorporating a number of different views from both those practising and training in the field, and includes service usersâ?? perspectives. The importance of personal development is considered and chapters are devoted to presenting a model of the different processes, examining issues of power and identity, and assessing how training courses currently approach and encourage personal development and how it might be evaluated. The book culminates in summarising the major themes, and offers suggestions for future developments. In line with BPS accreditation criteria which identifies personal development as a core learning objective Offers an historical overview of the clinical psychology profession Includes the voices of service users and carers Considers how personal development can be assessed Also of interest to counselors, psychotherapists, and nurse therapists as well as clinical psychologists and related professions outside the UK