The Essential Counselor: Process, Skills, and Techniques

Featuring a highly personal and engaging writing style, The Essential Counselor: Process, Skills, and Techniques equips readers with the knowledge, confidence, and competence they need to form and sustain a successful practice. It emphasizes the importance of developing a therapeutic alliance with clients and speaks to the skills and attitudes that will help them form, foster, and manage this critical relationship. The organization of the book roughly parallels the counseling process, focusing on the dynamics of the relationships and the skills necessary at different points of the relationship's life. Opening chapters address how to prepare for and engage with a client. Additional chapters cover client assessment and taking action to help a client move toward their counseling goals. Closing chapters focus on special client types and counseling situations, the end of the counseling relationship, and the importance of counselor self-care to avoid burnout. Throughout, real-world examples, reflection activities, demonstrative videos, and skill-building exercises help readers think critically and develop key skill sets. The fourth edition has been revised to address the growing importance of multicultural issues and social justice. The chapters have also been reorganized in response to instructor feedback. Imbued with passion and practicality, The Essential Counselor is a critical and foundational resource for undergraduate and graduate-level courses and programs in counseling, human services, and the helping professions.

About the Author :
David Hutchinson holds a Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a master's degree in counseling from Assumption College. He has worked as an addictions counselor, an administrator of treatment programs, and a private counseling practitioner. Dr. Hutchinson now prepares graduate students for careers in counseling at Northern Vermont University. His specialties include foundational skills training, group work, addictions, and grief counseling.

Review :
"This manual serves as tool for counselors to become better advocates for clients and employers but more importantly for self as a helping professional." Dr. Irmo Marini, Professor, School of Rehabilitation, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley "The Essential Counselor is truth in advertising: a comprehensive, relatable guide to the essentials that a student studying to be a counselor needs to know—written, remarkably, with both student and teacher in mind. Filled with useful case examples and reflection questions, David Hutchinson has given a gift to the counseling field with the third edition of this text. He guides the counselor-in-training with a wise and experienced hand through all the necessary steps of providing competent, ethical counseling. The Essential Counselor also provides sage instruction on what it takes to become a competent, ethical counselor. Whether training to work in clinical mental health or school-based settings, every student will be better for having this book on their shelf." John Mageary, Assistant Professor, Department Chair, Graduate Counseling and Psychology, Lesley University