There are sites of about Philosophical Counselling, Socratic Dialogue and Philosophy with Children. Google searches will point to any of these. Some you will find take an academic view of practical philosophy, some see it as part of therapy or counselling, some as a form of life-coaching, some as education, some as self-publicity, some as simply a way of making money, and very few as part of a self-reflective life.

There are a number of societies and organisations around the world. Many are dominated by Philosophical Counselling and especially the training of Philosophical Counsellors. For a good example of a European organisation committed to practical philosophy go to the Italian organisation for philosophical practice Phronesis or Vita Filosofica, the site of its president Stephano Zampieri. They have a solid and active membership, well thought out and organised training courses, and a professional presence in their own country. Others along the same lines worth looking at are: Jorge Dias’ Gabinete PROJECT or his site in English, and the North American APPA and ASPCP. Rayda Guzman is an active practical philosopher with an interesting website in Spanish.

Individuals of particular interest are Tim Addey (The Prometheus Trust). Pierre Grimes (Opening Mind), Eli Eilon (Philoharmony), and Ran Lahav (Trans-Sophia) and in China Zhigang Zhang (哲学人生).

More general and useful portals of information are EpistemeLinks, Kingston Philosophical Cafe and Geoffrey Klempner’s excellent and insightful Pathways site. Peter Suber’s Guide to Philosophy on the Internet has a huge number of links. Stephan Clarke’s Philosophy@Large on Liverpool University’s site also has a massive list on links.

If you are interested in finding out more about the therapeutic applications of philosophy it would be worth looking at  Emmy van Deurzen’s New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling (NSPC) site and the Society of Existential Analysis. You can get an idea of the different directions practical philosophy can take you by looking at the British Humanist Association, the Philosophical Society of England, and the Stoic Foundation.

As with any interest that is broadly philosophical there is also a fair smattering of charlatans, gurus and clowns; you will find  these as you go but I won’t bother to list them. Areas of thought have for most of history been the preserve of select groups, often in universities or learned societies, and there are individuals who will always prefer such platforms. Practical Philosophy already has formed an hierarchy of those interested in having an acknowledged place in a recognised community as developing a platform for their own ideas. Sometimes we can be rightfully suspicious of such people. You will come across these; beware! If in doubt about someone’s motives ask the opinion of others. The magazine Philosophy Now has some good links, articles and a wide ranging discussion forum.

If you are interested in studying philosophy by distance learning look at Sheffield University's Pathways School of Philosophy. There is access from this to the University of London External BA programme as well. Pathways also offers an excellent Ask a Philosopher service which is a good place to test out your thinking and method of enquiry in a fairly formal way.

If you want to start doing philosophy look at my book Doing Philosophy.

If you can’t find what you need then contact me.