A Brief Primer of Helping Skills

Jeffrey A. Kottler

SAGE Publications, 2008 - Psychology - 171 pages

A Brief Primer of Helping Skills is a highly readable, accessible, and practical introduction to the skills of helping and making a difference in people's lives. In an engaging and concise style, author Jeffrey A. Kottler gives students in various professions an overview of the theory, process, and skills of helping methods. It is designed as an operating manual for those in human service professions to learn the basics involved in developing helping relationships, assessing and diagnosing complaints, promoting exploration and understanding, and designing and implementing action plans.

Key Features

• Offers a brief introduction to the helping process: Written in an accessible and conversational style, this book helps students and professionals become familiar with the basic process quickly.
• Provides personal applications: This book helps students enrich their lives while learning how to be more helpful to others.
• Includes applications to a variety of settings and disciplines: Students can actually use material and skills in the book in all the various domains in which they function—at work, in volunteer agencies, with friends and family.
• Uses an integrative approach: The best features of all major theories and research are combined into a unified model of helping that is responsive to different needs.

Intended Audience

This supplemental text is ideal for introductory undergraduate and graduate courses such as Introduction to Social Work, Introduction to Counseling, and Introduction to Human Services in the fields of counseling, psychology, human services, social work, education, family studies, marital and family therapy, pastoral work, nursing, human resource development, and other helping professions. It is also an excellent resource for beginning practitioners.

Contents

• Theories of Helping: 17
• Reality Theory: 30
• For Review: 37

About the author

Jeffrey A. Kottler, Ph.D., is Professor in the Counseling Department at California State University, Fullerton, and one of the foremost authorities and prolific writers in the fields of counseling, psychology, and education. He is the best-selling author of more than 80 nonfiction books that deal with a wide range of subjects including personal development, group leadership, professional development of psychotherapists and teachers, social justice, true crime, and a variety of contemporary issues related to helping and healing, truth and lies, creativity, transformative travel, and stress management. In addition to his private practice, Jeffrey has worked as a teacher, counselor, and therapist in preschool, middle school, mental health center, crisis center, university, and community college settings. He has served as a Fulbright Scholar and Senior Lecturer in Peru and Iceland, teaching counseling theory and practice. He has also served as a visiting professor in New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, Nepal, and other countries. In addition, Jeffrey is President of Empower Nepali Girls, a foundation that provides scholarships for at-risk children in Nepal.

Bibliographic information

• Title: A Brief Primer of Helping Skills
• Author: Jeffrey A. Kottler
• Publisher: SAGE Publications, 2008
• Original from: the University of Michigan
• Digitized: Oct 3, 2008
• ISBN: 1412959225, 9781412959223
• Length: 171 pages
• Subjects: Psychology / Clinical Psychology; Psychology / Psychotherapy / Counseling; Psychology / Psychotherapy / General