Ethics of Caring: Honoring the Web of Life in Our Professional Healing Relationships [Paperback]

Kylea Taylor (Author), Jack Kornfield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1995

The Ethics of Caring is written for all caregivers, including psychotherapists, bodyworkers, medical practitioners, clergy, hypnotherapists, and acupuncturists, who want to become more conscious in their relationships with clients. It provides unique help to volunteer and professional caregivers who want to sort out confusing ethical dilemmas in seven categories including love, truth, insight, and oneness as well as the more well-known ethical issues of money, sex, and power. Ethical issues pertain to longings, feelings, and motivations which resonate at our very core. Powerful, shared experiences in the context of the therapeutic relationship can bring to the surface compelling fears, needs, and longings in both the client and the caregiver. It offers a new model of self-examination which deepens the therapeutic relationship and can prevent the harmful consequences of ethical misconduct.

Editorial Reviews

From Scientific American

Serious ethical considerations represent an important aspect of any therapeutic endeavor. The work with non-ordinary states of consciousness brings specific new challenges and problems that go beyond those encountered in traditional verbal and experiential approaches. Kylea Taylor's book, The Ethics of Caring, is a pioneering venture into these new territories, providing important guidelines for practitioners and students.

From The New Yorker

This is a wonderful resource book that can be an invaluable professional guide for maintaining ethics and integrity within the helping professions.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Hanford Mead Pub; 2 edition (June 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964315815
• ISBN-13: 978-0964315815
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #103,735 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #66 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > Ethics

More About the Author

Kylea earned her Master of Science degree from San Jose State University, San Jose, CA in Marriage, Child, and Family Counseling. She started working as a counselor in the addictions recovery field in 1970 and served as the executive director of a New Jersey community counseling center for sixteen years. Her study of kundalini yoga in the 70's began her enduring interest in the interface between psychological, physical, social, and spiritual aspects of ourselves. She has extensive personal and professional experience with addiction, post-traumatic stress, and dissociation (including multiplicity or DID), women's issues, and spiritual emergence(y) and kundalini phenomena.

Kylea Taylor began ongoing study in 1984 with Stanislav Grof, M.D., in transpersonal psychology and non-ordinary states of consciousness. She is a certified Holotropic Breathwork(tm) Practitioner and was active as a senior trainer in the Grof Transpersonal Training from 1993-2000. Kylea has assisted Stanislav Grof at many large workshops and has facilitated workshops and presented her own work at conferences in the United States and abroad.

Kylea is the author of the following books from Hanford Mead Publishers, Inc.: "The Ethics of Caring" (also published in German), "The Breathwork Experience" (also published in Spanish), "Considering Holotropic Breathwork" and "The Holotropic Breathwork Facilitator's Manual" (available to those enrolled in the Grof Transpersonal Training only) and is the editor of "Exploring Holotropic Breathwork." She has also written numerous articles for print and online magazines and journals. Kylea served for 17 years on the Board of the Association for Holotropic Breathwork International and for two years as the Ethics Chair on the Board of the Santa Cruz California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) Board.

Kylea is currently working with Seena B. Frost, author of "SoulCollage" to hold SoulCollage(R) Facilitator Trainings. Kylea is also a Prantherapist and is currently enrolled in the School for Spiritual Healers at the Federation of Damanhur in Italy. Kylea's blog is at kyleataylor.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Covers many of the ethical issues confronting therapists, February 7, 1998

By 

"ramonam" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ethics of Caring: Honoring the Web of Life in Our Professional Healing Relationships (Paperback)

This is a very useful tool for any therapist, whether a mainstream counselor or doctor, or practitioners of complementary modalities such as massage. It discusses in plain language the ethical dilemmas we are all confronted by in our daily practice. I particularly appreciated the explanation of a client's vulnerability while in an altered state such as hypnosis or the deep relaxation produced by massage. The author also addresses the vulnerability of the therapist when faced with a client's issues that hook into the therapist's issues, creating a very murky situation indeed. The author assists us to provide appropriate loving care to our clients without violating boundaries.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive and visionary, January 13, 2001

By 

Mu - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ethics of Caring: Honoring the Web of Life in Our Professional Healing Relationships (Paperback)

Too often, ethical questions are considered dreary subjects best left to a committee. This book helps us see ethics as integrally related to how we do our work, and to our own personal growth. It also embraces a wide spectrum of consciousness, in a systematic way. It is particularly remarkable for its emphasis on non-ordinary states of consciousness, and how to handle these intense experiences when they occur in our work with clients (whether deliberately induced or occurring spontaneously). The Ethics of Caring will be especially valuable for trainee caregivers, supervisors, clients looking for the appropriate therapist, and any professionals who finds themselves, as we all do from time to time, out of our depth.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clarifying, February 1, 2010

By 

Mary Alice Judy (Chapin, SC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ethics of Caring: Honoring the Web of Life in Our Professional Healing Relationships (Paperback)

This book was required reading for my while I was studying to attain my Reiki Master's certificate. I expected a rather dull ethics book, but this book is nothing even near dull. It takes the ethics of healing touch to a completely different (and clearer) level and gave me a much better understanding of my role as a Reiki Master. I understand why my teacher has her students study this book because of the depth of some of the issues are addressed in such a clear fashion that there can be no question as to how to handle them. It even covered things that I would have never thought of and explained our role explicitly. To me, it should be a must for anyone going into a healing touch profession whether it be Reiki or massage therapy or any related practices. We are responsible for our clients well-being and this is the overall theme of this book. Excellent source and easy reading.