Applied Helping Skills: Transforming Lives

Highly practical and student centered, Applied Helping Skills: Transforming Lives, is an experiential text focusing on basic skills and core interventions. Although it has a consistent a big-picture perspective, this book emphasizes the role of counselors to make contact with their individual clients, to help them feel understood, and to clarify the major issues that trouble them. Key Features and Benefits   Uses an authentic voice with humor, engaging prose, and practical examples to convey the excitement and satisfaction of doing helping work Delves beyond reviewing the actions of dynamic practitioners, to discuss how effective practitioners actually think and feel   Guides students through self-assessment exercises, reflective activities, and practical applications, allowing them to personalize and apply concepts while providing insight on how personal and moral choices affect clinical behavior   Accompanied by high-quality ancillaries! An Instructor's Resource CD is available to qualified adopters A Student Study Site is available Intended Audience   This upper-level undergraduate and graduate textbook is designed for courses covering basic helping skills in counseling, social work, psychology, family therapy, human services, and other related fields.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgments Part I. Foundations for Skills 1. The Process Revealed Reading Minds and Other Superpowers My Psychic Powers Secrets Revealed How Therapists Enhance Their Powers Power and Influence You Gotta Be Desperate It's All About Leverage Amateurs Versus Professionals A Few Missing Ingredients The Perfect Counseling Student Applications to Self: Incorporating Skills Into Your Daily Life Summary Skills in Action: The Troubled Wife References and Resources 2. Clients in Need: Individual, Social, and Cultural Factors Cultural Context of the Client Experience Cultural Skills and Competencies Becoming Familiar With Cultural Differences Assess Stage of Cultural Identity Overview of a Client Concern Ethical Considerations in the Practice of Helping Skills How to be a Good Client Decisions, Decisions Applications to Self: Who You Are Versus What You Do Summary Skills in Action: Student as Client References and Resources 3. Models of Helping Theories and Their Offspring Theoretical Frameworks and Models of Practice Stages in the Process An Integrated Model Applications to Self: Choosing and Using a Theory Summary Skills in Action: The Phobia References and Resources Part II. Skills to Use With Individuals 4. Skills for Building Collaborative Relationships Your Best Relationships Uses of the Therapeutic Relationship About Empathy Relationship Skills Before You Begin Pitfalls and Common Mistakes Applications to Self: The Effects on All Your Relationships Summary Skills in Action: Ambivalent Intimacy References and Resources 5. Skills of Assessment and Diagnosis The Mental Status Exam The Basics of Conducting an Intake Interview Structured Intake Interviews Special Considerations in Assessing Addiction Special Considerations in Assessing Physical or Sexual Abuse Special Considerations for High Suicide Risk Objective and Subjective Sources of Information Models of Diagnosis Remembering What You See and Hear Making Things Fit Your Style Pitfalls and Common Mistakes Applications to Self: Diagnosing in a Variety of Settings Summary Skills in Action: After the Intake Interview References and Resources 6. Exploration Skills An Overview of the Exploration Stage Structuring the Conversations Opening With a Story Asking Questions Reflecting Skills Putting Reflecting Skills Together Exploring the Past Summarizing Themes Pitfalls and Common Mistakes Applications to Self: Learning to Reflect Will Change You Summary Skills in Action: Infertility References and Resources 7. Promoting Understanding and Insight The Uses of Insight The Limits of Insight Selected Skills for Promoting Understanding What Happens Next? Pitfalls and Common Mistakes Applications to Self: You're Already Doing This Stuff Summary Skills in Action: Unexplained Anxiety References and Resources 8. Facilitating Action Transition From Insight to Action Dealing With Resistance The Miracle Question Setting Goals Generating Alternatives Reinforcing Behavior Using Role-Playing Using the Empty Chair Using the Transference Relaxation Training Using Rehearsal and Imagery Bibliotherapy Pitfalls and Common Mistakes Applications to Self: Sharing Your Client's Issues Summary Skills in Action: Being Too Responsible References and Resources 9. Maintaining Progress and Evaluating Results Some Assessment Challenges Skills of Evaluating Outcomes and Measuring Results: The Client's Efforts Skills of Evaluating Outcomes and Measuring Results: The Therapist's Efforts Ending Therapy Effectively Pitfalls and Common Mistakes Applications to Self: Closure on Closure Summary Skills in Action: Closure References and Resources Part III. Skills to Use With Multiple Clients 10. Skills for Family Therapy and Other Roles for Therapists A Different Way of Looking at Things Structuring a Family Interview Couples Counseling Specialized Skills for Working With Children The Roles You Take as a Therapist Pitfalls and Common Mistakes Applications to Self: Awareness of Your Own Family Dynamics Summary Skills in Action: The Frustrated Couple References and Resources 11. Group Leadership Skills Group Stage Development Group Dynamics Group Leadership Approaches Unique Ethical Challenges Pitfalls and Common Mistakes Applications to Self: You Are Already in a Group Summary Skills in Action: Giving Feedback References and Resources 12. Where to Go Next What If I Don't Know What to Do? What If My Supervisor Finds Out How Little I Know? What If I Hurt Someone? What If I Don't Have What It Takes? Some Advice About Where to Go Next Summary References and Resources References and Resources Index About the Authors

About the Author :
Leah Brew is Chair and Professor in the Department of Counseling at California State University, Fullerton. She teaches, presents and publishes in the areas of basic counseling skills and multiculturalism. Specifically, she has several publications and projects that have been centered on working with multiracial couples, families, and individuals. She collaborated on a project to establish Competencies for Counseling Multiracial Populations, which was endorsed by the American Counseling Association. She has a small private practice where she specializes in working with diverse clients who struggle with depression and anxiety and are survivors of trauma. She also supervises students at a community agency who are working toward their master’s degrees in counseling. She is active in the profession of counseling in the state of California, and helped to obtain the Licensed Professional Clinical Counseling credential in California, the last state to license counselors. She was also appointed a gubernatorial position as the LPCC representative on the state licensure board, and has taken a leadership role in improving supervision requirements in the state.  Jeffrey A. Kottler is one of the most prolific authors in the fields of counseling, psychotherapy, and education, having written more than 90 books about a wide range of subjects. He has authored a dozen texts for counselors and therapists that are used in universities around the world and a dozen books each for practicing therapists and educators. Some of his most highly regarded works include Creative Breakthroughs in Therapy, The Mummy at the Dining Room Table: Eminent Therapists Reveal Their Most Unusual Cases and What They Teach Us About Human Behavior, Bad Therapy, The Client Who Changed Me, Divine Madness, Change: What Leads to Personal Transformation, Stories We’ve Heard, Stories We’ve Told: Life-Changing Narratives in Therapy and Everyday Life, and Therapy Over 50. He has been an educator for 40 years, having worked as a teacher, counselor, and therapist in preschool, middle school, mental health center, crisis center, nongovernmental organization, university, community college, private practice, and disaster relief settings. He has served as a Fulbright scholar and senior lecturer in Peru and Iceland, as well as worked as a visiting professor in New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Nepal. He is professor of counseling at California State University, Fullerton.