Conclusion

Having read through the chapters of this book so far the reader could be forgiven for thinking: so what? I agree with many of the points raised by the authors of these chapters but how can I possibly reconfigure my pastoral care or counselling practice to take account of them; how can I possibly undertake a small or even a large research study that bears all this in mind? The answer is clear: you can’t! However, we expect that you will have taken in and absorbed many of the points raised here and these will impact on you, your thinking and your actions. At its very best some of this will have been absorbed by you on a tacit level of knowing (Polanyi, 1962).