Applied Helping Skills

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.

• Part I: Foundations for SkillsChapter 1: The Process RevealedReading Minds and Other SuperpowersMy Psychic PowersSecrets RevealedHow Therapists Enhance Their PowersPower and InfluenceYou Gotta Be DesperateIt’s All About LeverageAmateurs Versus ProfessionalsA Few Missing IngredientsThe Perfect Counseling StudentChapter 2: Clients in Need: Individual, Social, and Cultural FactorsCultural Context of the Client ExperienceCultural Skills and CompetenciesBecome Familiar With Cultural DifferencesAssess Stage of Cultural IdentityOverview of a Client ConcernEthical Considerations in the Practice of Helping SkillsHow to be a Good ClientDecisions, DecisionsChapter 3: Models of HelpingTheories and Their OffspringAn Integrated ModelPart II: Skills to Use With IndividualsChapter 4: Skills for Builiding Collaborative RelationshipsYour Best RelationshipsUses of the Therapeutic RelationshipAbout EmpathyRelationship SkillsChapter 5: Skills of Assessment and DiagnosisThe Mental Status ExamThe Basics of Conducting an Intake InterviewStructured Intake InterviewsSpecial Considerations in Assessing AddictionSpecial Considerations in Assessing Physical or Sexual AbuseSpecial Considerations for High Suicide RiskSpecial Considerations for Crisis SituationsObjective and Subjective Sources of InformationModels of DiagnosisRemembering What You See and HearMaking Things Fit Your StyleChapter 6: Exploration SkillsAn Overview of the Exploration StageStructuring the ConversationsOpening With a StoryAsking QuestionsReflecting SkillsPutting Reflecting Skills TogetherExploring the PastSummarizing ThemesChapter 7: Promoting Understanding and InsightThe Uses of InsightThe Limits of InsightSelected Skills for Promoting UnderstandingWhat Happens Next?Chapter 8: Facilitating ActionTransition From Insight to ActionDealing With ResistanceThe Miracle QuestionSetting GoalsGenerating AlternativesReinforcing BehaviorRelaxation TrainingUsing Rehearsal and ImageryUsing Role-PlayingUsing the Empty ChairUsing the TransferenceChapter 9: Maintaining Progress and Evaluating ResultsSome Assessment ChallengesSkills of Evaluating Outcomes and Measuring Results: The Client’s EffortsSkills of Evaluating Outcomes and Measuring Results: The Therapist’s EffortsEnding Therapy EffectivelyPart III: Skills to Use With Multiple ClientsChapter 10: Skills for Family Therapy and Other Roles for TherapistsA Different Way of Looking at ThingsStructuring a Family InterviewCouples CounselingSpecialized Skills for Working With ChildrenThe Roles You Take as a TherapistChapter 11: Group Leadership SkillsGroup Stage DevelopmentGroup DynamicsGroup Leadership ApproachesUnique Ethical ChallengesChapter 12: Where to Go NextWhat 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

"Applied Helping Skills: Transforming Lives, Second Edition discusses profound principles of helping in a simple conversational manner."