image.AlternativeText
June, 2016 | SAGE Publications, Inc

Applied Helping Skills

Transforming Lives

Second Edition
Leah M. Brew - California State University, Fullerton, USA
Jeffrey A. Kottler - California State University, Fullerton, USA
488 pages | June, 2016 | SAGE Publications, Inc
Instant Access!
eBook
ISBN: 9781483375700
Paperback
ISBN: 9781483375694
$160.00
Instant Access!
eBook
ISBN: 9781483375700
Request sample >
With its practical, experiential approach, the Second Edition of Applied Helping Skills: Transforming Lives covers the basic skills and core interventions needed to begin seeing clients. By approaching therapy as an art rather than from a prescriptive diagnostic position, this text encourages readers to look at every situation differently and draw from their embedded knowledge to best serve the individuals in their care. Authors Leah Brew and Jeffrey A. Kottler weave humor and passion into their engaging prose, effectively conveying their excitement and satisfaction for doing helping work.

Part I: Foundations for Skills

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

Cultural Context of the Client Experience
Cultural Skills and Competencies
Become 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

Theories and Their Offspring
An Integrated Model
Part II: Skills to Use With Individuals

Your Best Relationships
Uses of the Therapeutic Relationship
About Empathy
Relationship Skills

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
Special Considerations for Crisis Situations
Objective and Subjective Sources of Information
Models of Diagnosis
Remembering What You See and Hear
Making Things Fit Your Style

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

The Uses of Insight
The Limits of Insight
Selected Skills for Promoting Understanding
What Happens Next?

Transition From Insight to Action
Dealing With Resistance
The Miracle Question
Setting Goals
Generating Alternatives
Reinforcing Behavior
Relaxation Training
Using Rehearsal and Imagery
Using Role-Playing
Using the Empty Chair
Using the Transference

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
Part III: Skills to Use With Multiple Clients

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

Group Stage Development
Group Dynamics
Group Leadership Approaches
Unique Ethical Challenges

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

Student Study Site

The open-access Student Study Site includes the following:

  • Common Errors for Beginning Counselors worksheet is a quick and easy resource for students to use throughout training.

  • Types of Responses lists the strengths and limitations of each type of therapist response, especially when overused.  

  • Types of Therapist Responses Defined is a list students will use to tally response types for video session assignments.

  • Basic Reflecting Skills Paper Rubric for student paper assignments.

  • Video Sessions Rubric for student video assignments.

  • Chapter Summaries to reinforce the most important material

  • “Check What You Learned” short answer and essay questions focus on key terms and concepts outlined in the chapters.

  • Video clips and accompanying questions demonstrate core concepts in the text and help students visualize essential counselor skills. Accompanying video questions help students reflect and assess the counseling situation presented in each clip.

Instructor Teaching Site

Instructor Resources:

  • A Course Philosophy description authored Leah Brew and Jeffrey Kottler outlines major objectives and course structure as well as recommended assignments for a beginner’s course in basic counseling skills.
  • Editable, chapter-specific Microsoft® PowerPoint® slides offer you complete flexibility in easily creating a multimedia presentation for your course. Highlight essential content and features.
  • Final Exam containing essay questions and client/counselor vignettes effectively assess students’ understanding of course objectives.
  • “Check What You Learned” Answer Key to the short answer and essay questions that accompany each chapter and test key terms and concepts.
  •  Video Question Answer Key to questions that appear before and after each online counseling video
  • Sample course syllabi for semester and term courses provide suggested models for use when creating the syllabi for your courses.

 

KEY FEATURES:
  • New video clips have been added to the existing collection of online resources for even more opportunities to engage readers with key concepts.
  • Content reflecting CACREP standards aligns with programs that foster the development of knowledgeable and caring professionals.    
  • Coverage of core helping skills is augmented with newer, more cutting-edge brief interventions and issues related to treatment planning.
  • A generic model of helping combines features of humanistic, psychodynamic, and cognitive theories to address a variety of different settings and clinical styles.
  • Diversity issues are infused into every facet of the process to emphasize the importance of adapting skills to fit the unique needs of individual clients and cultural groups.
  • Case examples, reflective activities, first-person accounts, homework assignments, and application exercises personalize concepts for immediate application to work and life settings.
  • Integrated Client Therapist Dialogues show students how the flow of client dialogue transpires and how to see identify possible solutions.
  • Attention is given to how effective practitioners feel, in addition to what they do.
  • An Appendix details a full session from the beginning to end stages of therapy to emphasize a variety of learning areas.