Reading with love: Developing therapeutic imagination through purposeful engagement with qualitative research

This Special Issue of the European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling on Qualitative Research and Mental Health comprises a collection of papers that show how qualitative inquiry can be used to explore aspects of social experience that are relevant to counselling, psychotherapy and mental health, alongside other pieces that addresses methodological issues associated with this type of research. The present paper discusses these articles in relation to the question of how counsellors and psychotherapists can make use of routinely reading published research reports to support and enhance their work with clients. In particular, reading strategies are described that promote the development of therapeutic imagination.