The Therapist's Workbook: Self-Assessment, Self-Care, and Self-Improvement Exercises for Mental Health Professionals
Mental health professionals spend their days helping others, but who is there to help them when stress and burnout threaten their own well-being? Filled with self-assessments, journaling exercises, and activities designed to facilitate renewal, growth, and change, this timely book helps clinicians help themselves with coverage of career threatening issues, such as fear of failure, loss of confidence, and the financial stress and loss of autonomy that many clinician's experience as a result of managed care and its constraints.
Table of Contents:
Introduction vii Part I Confronting the Issues 1
Chapter 1 On Being a Therapist—and the Consequences of This Choice 3
Chapter 2 Joys and Privileges of Therapeutic Work 17
Chapter 3 Identifying Sources of Stress 31
Chapter 4 Acknowledging Doubts, Limitations, and Failures 55
Chapter 5 Clients as Teachers: Reciprocal Effects and Influences 73
Chapter 6 Making Sense of What You Do as a Therapist 85
Part II Taking Care of Yourself 115
Chapter 7 Addressing Countertransference and Other Personal Reactions 117
Chapter 8 Avoiding and Countering Burnout 143
Chapter 9 Travel That Can Change Your Life 151
Chapter 10 Building and Maintaining a Support System 161
Part III Practicing What You Preach 173
Chapter 11 Accessing More Fun and Joy From Therapeutic Work 175
Chapter 12 Promoting Creative Breakthroughs 183
About the Author 197
About the Author :
Jeffrey Kottler is the former chair of the counseling department at California State University, Fullerton where he is currently a Professor of Counseling. He has worked as an educator and psychologist in PreK-12 schools, mental health centers, universities and community colleges, corporations, and private practice settings. He has served as a Fulbright Scholar and Senior Lecturer in Peru, Thailand, and Iceland, and has worked as a Visiting Professor in New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Nepal.
