The review of A New Introduction to Counselling and Psychotherapy [Routledge ] by Mamood Ahmad appears in the October 2026 issue of Therapy Today, p. 21, and identifies Nick Campion as an MBACP, integrative psychotherapist.
A New Introduction to Counselling and Psychotherapy: embedding context, diversity, and equity into practice
Mamood Ahmad (Routledge)
Ahmad isn’t shy about the extent of his ambition for this book. He wants to change the way counselling and psychotherapy are taught and thereby change the way counsellors and therapists practise. The client-in-context is all. The book’s density, complexity and comprehensiveness suggest it is anything but an ‘introduction’: it is a sophisticated and novel approach to understanding psychotherapeutic practice. Yet its ambition is to be a fundamental resource that informs every moment of a trainee’s learning from day one – so an introduction it must be.
The book is an incredible resource to teaching staff, not only reaching into granular detail but also full of ways for trainees to consider, reflect and discuss scenarios and concepts. My tip is don’t start with the ‘Introduction’; it’s an immediate bombardment with daunting levels of complexity, acronyms, multiple new frames of reference and ideas. What the ‘Introduction’ does do, however, is serve as a comprehensive ongoing reference point as you read. Chapter one is an excellent introduction to the overall landscape.
It’s a remarkably thorough, ambitious and multilayered piece of work. Just reading the words without doing the work feels somewhat akin to reading a recipe instead of making the meal. The importance of this book will not be in its reading but in the action it provokes.
Nick Campion MBACP, integrative psychotherapist
Campion, N. (2026) ‘Review of A New Introduction to Counselling and Psychotherapy: Embedding Context, Diversity, and Equity into Practice by Mamood Ahmad’, Therapy Today, October 2026, p. 21.
