Introduction to Counselling Skills: Text and Activities

From leading skills expert Richard Nelson-Jones, this bestselling book is the ideal companion for any trainer or trainee wanting to acquire and develop the counselling skills key to effective therapeutic relationships. Using an easy to follow, three-stage model, this fourth edition provides the answers to those all important questions: - what are counselling skills and why are they important? - how can I become more skilled and put the skills I have learnt into practice? - what skills will help me manage crises and work effectively with diversity, ethical issues and dilemmas? - how can I help my client to develop their own self-helping skills and maintain change after the counselling relationship has terminated? Accessible, practical and concise, this new edition is packed full of up-to-date case examples, more material on self-care and diversity, as well as a brand new chapter on "Using Technology in Counselling". This is the ideal text for introductory courses in counselling skills, counselling and other professional areas including health care, management, education and social work. Richard Nelson-Jones has many years′ experience as a counsellor, trainer and psychotherapist. His books have helped train thousands of counsellors and helpers worldwide. He is a Fellow of the British and Australian Psychological Societies and of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Table of Contents:
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION Who Are Counsellors and Helpers? Creating Communication Skills and Feelings Creating Mind Skills The Counselling and Helping Process Counselling and Helping Relationships PART TWO: THE RELATING STAGE Understanding the Internal Frame of Reference Showing Attention and Interest Reflecting Feelings Starting the Counselling and Helping Process Managing Resistance and Making Referrals PART THREE: THE UNDERSTANDING STAGE Assessing Feelings and Physical Reactions Assessing Thinking Assessing Communication and Actions Challenges, Feedback and Self-Disclosure Monitoring, Summarizing and Identifying Skills PART FOUR: THE CHANGING STAGE Helping to Solve Problems Coaching Skills: Speaking, Demonstrating and Rehearsing Improving Communication and Actions Improving Thinking Negotiating Homework Conducting Middle Sessions Terminating Counselling and Helping PART FIVE: FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS Relaxation Interventions Managing Crises Multicultural and Gender-Aware Counselling and Helping Ethical Issues and Dilemmas Training Groups, Supervision and Support Using Technology in Counselling Becoming More Skilled and Human

About the Author :
Richard Nelson-Jones was born in London in 1936. Having spent five years in California as a Second World War refugee, he returned in the 1960s to obtain a Masters and Ph.D from Stanford University. In 1970, he was appointed a lecturer in the Department of Education at the University of Aston to establish a Diploma in Counselling in Educational Settings, which started enrolling students in 1971. During the 1970s, he was helped by having three Fulbright Professors from the United States, each for a year, who both taught students and improved his skills. During this period he broadened out from a predominantly client-centred orientation to becoming much more cognitive-behavioural. He also wrote numerous articles and the first edition of what is now The Theory and Practice of Counselling and Therapy, which was published in 1982. In addition, he chaired the British Psychological Society's Working Party on Counselling and, in1982, became the first chairperson of the BPS Counselling Psychology Section. In 1984, he took up a position as a counselling and later counselling psychology trainer at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, where he became an Associate Professor. He continued writing research articles, articles on professional issues and books, which were published in London and Sydney. As when he worked at Aston University, he also counselled clients to keep up his skills. In 1997, he retired from RMIT and moved to Chiang Mai in Thailand. There, as well as doing some counselling and teaching, he has continued as an author of counselling and counselling psychology textbooks. A British and Australian citizen, he now divides his time between Chiang Mai and London and regularly visits Australia.

Review :
′I was taught counselling skills by Richard Nelson-Jones almost forty years ago. Buy this book. He know what he is talking about!′ - Windy Dryden is a Professor of Psychotherapeutic Studies and Programme Co-ordinator of the MSc in Rational-Emotive and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy at Goldsmiths, University of London