About the Book
With a reassuring and clear writing style, Willer offers practical suggestions and clinical examples to address the professional development and emotional concerns of the beginning psychotherapist. She guides readers through structuring the first session, making clinical observations, and establishing a therapeutic alliance. Through the use of culturally diverse clinical vignettes, Willer discusses the foundations of ethical practice, including informed consent, confidentiality, documentation, and setting boundaries. The reader is guided on how and when to refer clients for medication and other health care. Crisis management principles are detailed, including suicide and violence risk assessment, child abuse, elder abuse, intimate partner violence, and rape. Willer also provides professional advice on contemporary concerns such as social networking, online searches of clients, the psychotherapist's internet presence, and other important emerging challenges. Comprehensive, practical, and thoroughly updated, The Beginning Psychotherapist's Companion, Second Edition is the ideal resource for students and early career psychotherapists.
Table of Contents:
AcknowledgmentsIntroductionSection I The Psychotherapist's Self And Relationships1 The Psychotherapist's Self2 The Supervisor-Supervisee Relationship3 The Therapeutic Frame4 Boundaries5 Psychotherapist-Client Differences and Coping with Prejudice6 Professional Electronic Communications and Data SecuritySection II Getting Started With Psychotherapy7 Confidentiality and Informed Consent8 Making Clinical Observations9 Making a Diagnosis10 Professional Phone Contacts and the Initial Phone Call11 The First Session: Preparation, Tasks, and Structure12 Progress Notes and the Chart13 Starting Psychotherapy and Stabilizing the ClientSection III Referrals14 Psychotropic Medication: Referrals and Adherence15 Health-Related Referrals16 Mental Health ReferralsSection IV Crisis Readiness17 Managing Crises Step-by-Step18 Assessing Suicide Risk and Warning Signs19 Suicide Prevention, Risk Reduction, and Documentation20 Violence Risk Management21 Child and Elder Maltreatment, Intimate Partner Violence, and Rape CrisesSection V Caring for Yourself and Your Clients22 Challenging Relationships and Emotions23 Becoming a Psychotherapist: Challenges, Rewards, and GrowthAfterwordAbout the AuthorReferencesIndex
About the Author :
Jan Willer, PhD, is an adjunct faculty member at DePaul University and a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice in Chicago. As a former psychology internship training director, she has lectured, taught, and published on mental health training.
Review :
"This book is an absolute gem. It provides all the secrets for being a successful psychotherapist that every practicing psychotherapist wishes they were told when they were first starting out. Well, the secret is out! Every psychotherapist-in-training and every early career psychotherapist should read this book and learn from its many wise lessons. You'll be glad you did!" -- Jeffrey E. Barnett, Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Psychology, and Director of Practitioner Masters Programs in Psychology, Loyola University Maryland
"This book is equally valuable to beginning and more seasoned psychotherapists, as well as supervisors. It is expansive in its coverage and does what it sets out to do-assist new practitioners with a number of pragmatic and professional issues before they start to practice psychotherapy. I have used the previous edition with my supervisees and it has provided a valuable guidebook and a catalyst for discussion. It is truly a companion and I recommend it very highly as a relevant and helpful resource." -- Christine A. Courtois, PhD, ABPP, Psychologist, Independent Practice, Washington, DC, and author of Christine A. Courtois, PhD, ABPP, Psychologist, Independent Practice, Washington, DC, and co-author of Treatment of Complex Trauma: A Sequenced, Relationship-based Approach
"Dr. Willer has updated her valuable guide to an amazing diversity of topics that can trip up therapists as they begin to practice: self-doubt, self-presentation, fees, HIPAA, charting, referrals, informed consent, crisis readiness, medications, mandated reporting, electronic communications, and burnout, to name but a few examples. Beginning psychotherapists of all disciplines and theoretical orientations will find here an immensely useful and user-friendly resource." -- Kenneth S. Pope, PhD, ABPP, Diplomate in Clinical Psychology
"Expanded and enriched in this second edition, this highly instructive primer for actual practice covers even more of the clinical bases than the first. Like a 'supervisor on the shelf' this book rewards the beginning psychotherapist (as well as many more experienced practitioners) with explicit strategies, pitfalls to avoid and ethical dimensions of the real world of clinician-patient negotiations. Still a necessary book." -- Thomas G. Gutheil, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center and Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston
