Erica Pavord was a Lecturer in Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the University of Worcester and now works as a systemic counsellor with families in Monmouthshire. Before becoming a counsellor, she spent fifteen years as a secondary school teacher. She has a special interest in communication methods and teaches a range of therapeutic communication and counselling skills. Her research interests include understanding attachment narratives and narrative enquiry methods. She has co-written and contributed to a number of books on subjects such as communication skills and child and adolescent mental health. Elaine Donnelly was a Senior Lecturer in Health, Social Care and Psychology at the University of Worcester, where she developed and taught modules of study across many courses on offer in the department at the time with a specific focus on mental health, psychology and communication and interpersonal skills. As a teacher she encouraged students to learn from their experiences and incorporated their feedback in teaching and learning activities. Student feedback and course requirements played an equal part in the development of her written texts which have been well received. Now happily retired, Elaine still maintains the belief that at the core of effective care lies good communication and interpersonal skills.