Solution-Focused School Counselor: Shaping Professional Practice

This text highlights the indispensable role of school counselors today, namely as change agents in an increasingly complex and fluctuating school system. Informed by emerging standards of practice and current research, the book adopts the salutary perspective of solution-focused brief therapy as its foundation. It outlines practical and time-sensitive strategies for school counselors to use with students, parents, teachers, and administrators. The Solution-FocusedSchool Counselor encourages readers to envision and proactively construct interactions with students, families, and staff that contribute not only to the formation of an exceptional school, but to the shaping of an effective professional practice. Blending current theory into practice, the authors have consulted research across a variety of disciplines and have related it in an understandable format. School counselors will find this book useful either as a professional resource to be read from cover-to-cover, or as a reference tool from which specific sections may be consulted. This book is an excellent resource for school counselors and students alike. It is also useful for school psychologists and administrators as well as anyone interested in making a difference in the school setting.

Table of Contents:
Prologue. Introduction to Brief and Solution-Focused School Counseling. Brief and Solution-Focused (Brief) Counseling in the School Setting. From Problems to Solutions: Changing the Mindset. Application to Individual Students and Groups. Working with Children of Challenge and their Parents. The Solution-Focused School. References. Index.

About the Author :
Thomas E. Davis, Ph.D., is Professor of Counselor Education at Ohio University, where he teaches in the areas of school and community counseling. His professional experience also includes lecturing, offering workshops, counseling, and consulting in the areas of school counseling and brief therapy. He is the author of many journal articles and co-authored A Practitioner'sGuide to Ethical Decision Making. He has given over 40 presentations at state and national conferences on the subject of professional counseling. Cynthia J.Osborn, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor at Kent State University, where she teaches applied and clinical courses in the Counseling and Human Development Service graduate program. Her practice, teaching, and research include the integration of a solution-focused perspective in the areas of substance abuse counseling and clinical supervision. She has given numerous lectures on the subject of brief and solution-focused counseling and has published a number of articles in professional journals.

Review :
"...[This book] is an invaluable resource for school counselors and provides a much needed alternative perspective about students and their problems. The authors present clear guidelines and rich case descriptions for implementing solution-focused, brief counseling as part of a developmental and comprehensive school counseling program." -- Pamela O. Paisley, University of Georgia "Davis and Osborn take a dramatic leap into the school counselor's vision of the new millenium by bringing a new focus for working with students, teachers, and parents...In today's volatile school environment, teachers, school counselors, and administrators need a book that offers a new direction. Davis and Osborn provide the resource for change in our most important of institution-the school ." -- Linda Metcalf, Ph.D, Author of Counseling Toward Solutions