Technical And Conceptual Skills For Mental Health Professionals - 04 edition

Summary: For courses in counseling skills and techniques in Counseling, Clinical Psychology, and Social Work departments.

This fresh new text will help future mental health professionals develop the competence they need in technical and clinical skills, while learning to successfully integrate both types into their professional practice. Material is arranged by skill type, and organized around the acronym BETA--background, emotions, thoughts, and actions--which re ...show moreflects the range of theorists and therapies, from Freud, Adler, and Jung; through Rogers and Gestalt Therapy; to Emotive Behavior, Cognitive, and Solution-Based Therapy. Both general and specific skills are addressed as they apply to each of the four pillars of the BETA framework, facilitating students' understanding of the broad range of treatment approaches available to clinicians.

Features

• Use of a composite "client" throughout the text--Eileen Carter is introduced through an intake interview in Chapter 2, and represents typical clients in a variety of situations throughout the material.
  • Involves readers in text content by personalizing situations and client stories--helps future counselors see the people behind the problem in way that evokes compassion and understanding.
• Common organization of skills chapters--Coverage of technical and clinical skills is presented in identical order, as they relate to background, emotions, thoughts, and actions.
  • Helps students understand that both types of skills are desirable--illustrates the interplay between different skills and common situations, and encourages the integration of a variety of skills to best help clients.
• Coverage of conceptual skills applicable to clinicians' professional development--Chapters 8 and 9.
  • Addresses issues of professional practice students will need to understand--assessment and testing, diagnosis, referral and collaboration, and techniques for terminating clients when necessary.
• Chapter 10, Reviewing, Integrating, and Reinforcing Skills--Includes review exercises tied to a sample intake interview.
  • Enables students to assess their understanding under supervision--through exercises requiring application of all of the skills covered in the text.
• Collected Assessment of Progress forms--In the final chapter.
  • Repeat the forms from Chapters 1 through 9--provide a final chance for readers to rate their understanding of the material and are ideal for examination-time study, in-class discussion starters, or assignment topics.
• Learning Opportunities at the end of each chapter--Written exercises, discussion questions, a role-play scenario, an Assessment of Progress form, and personal journal questions.
  • Acknowledge the variety of human learning styles--help reinforce concepts regularly, as the course progresses.

Edition/Copyright: 04
Cover: Hardcover
Publisher: Merrill Education/Prentice Hall
Published: 04/17/2003

View Table of Contents

Preface.

I. TECHNICAL AND CONCEPTUAL SKILLS FOR MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS.

1. Establishing the Foundation for Skill Development.

II. TECHNICAL SKILLS FOR MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS.

2. Using Technical Skills to Understand and Address Background.
3. Using Technical Skills to Elicit, Attend to, Reflect, Assess, and Change Emotions.
4. Using Technical Skills to Identify, Assess, and Modify Thoughts.
5. Using Technical Skills to Identify, Assess, and Change Actions and Behaviors.

III. CONCEPTUAL SKILLS FOR MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS.

6. Using Conceptual Skills to Understand, Assess, and Address Background.
7. Using Conceptual Skills to Make Positive Use of and Modify Emotions.
8. Using Conceptual Skills as Frameworks for Clinicians' Thoughts.
9. Applying Conceptual Skills to Actions for Positive Change.

IV. SOLIDIFYING TECHNICAL AND CONCEPTUAL SKILLS.

10. Reviewing, Integrating, and Reinforcing Skills.

References.