Learning the Art of Helping: Building Blocks and Techniques 6th Edition, ISBN-13: 978-0134165783

Students and beginning counselors get step-by-step guidance for developing the skills and techniques they need to effectively help their clients.

KEY BENEFIT: This sixth edition of the best-selling Learning the Art of Helping: Building Blocks and Techniques emphasizes the techniques and skills necessary to be effective in the art of helping, from basic building blocks to advanced therapeutic techniques. The text is practical, innovative, and focused on the relationship between helper and client. The author incorporates the latest research on effective treatments, while offering an integrative perspective. The author’s conversational tone is appealing to students, yet the book is carefully referenced for instructors. The goal is to make beginning helpers become “reflective practitioners.” “Stop and Reflect” sections, exercises, homework, class discussion topics, and Journal Starters support this approach. The sixth edition includes new sections highlighting issues of culture in research, challenges related to gender differences, and helping skills specific to children.

KEY TOPICS: Helping as a Personal Journey; The Therapeutic Relationship; Invitational Skills; Reflecting Skills: Paraphrasing; Reflecting Skills: Reflecting Feelings; Advanced Reflecting Skills: Reflecting Meaning and Summarizing; Challenging Skills; Assessment and Goal Setting; Change Techniques, Part I; Change Techniques, Part II; Evaluation, Reflection, and Termination; Skills for Helping Someone Who Is Different.

MARKET: Learning the Art of Helping is appropriate for courses in Counseling Process, Skills, and Techniques and Counseling Interventions, or as a refresher and hands-on resource for counselors new to their professions.

Mark E. Young is Professor at the University of Central Florida. He received his bachelor’s degree from Miami University, his master’s from Wright State University, and his doctorate from Ohio University. He has trained helpers for more than 25 years and worked as a therapist in community mental health, private practice, college counseling centers, and corrections for more than 15 years. Since 2003 he has been affiliated with the Marriage and Family Research Institute teaching relationship skills to low-income couples. His professional writing has focused mainly on therapeutic methods and techniques, wellness, and couples.