Much has been said about the potential that critical forms of reflection have to empower healthcare professionals. This text critiques the stereotypical view that empowerment is seen as a commodity that is bestowed upon people by those who have it to give. An alternative view is presented based upon the ideas of Foucault, Friere, Habermas, Chambers and others, whose ideas embrace issues of power, politics, struggle, negotiation and reversals in our thinking.

The book is divided into two parts. The first describes the lived experiences of healthcare professionals as they work with issues of empowerment through reflection. They comprise four case studies, two from mental health, one from acute medicine and the fourth from the care of the elderly. Part two relates healthcare practice to some of the 'big ideas' mentioned above. Practice is illuminated and explained with reference to some powerful 'theories'. The book begins with practice and seeks to try to understand and explain it by a sustained reflection on what we do, think and feel and how the work of others can help in the process of reflection.