Includes bibliographical references and index.

An invitation to counseling work -- Getting started: skills and tasks for engaging a new client -- Skills for developing the relationship -- Skills for deepening the relationship -- Assessment, goal setting, and action planning -- Developing ethical and cultural competency -- Essential action skills: working toward goals -- Skills for managing crisis situations -- Advanced action skills: moving beyond stability -- Exceptional counseling challenges -- Skills for ending -- The whole counselor: maintaining health and perspective.

Emphasizing the development of the therapeutic alliance regardless of theoretical bias in this update of the 2006 text, Hutchinson (Johnson State College, Vermont) traces the counseling process in ethical, culturally-sensitive practices from requisite pre-session attitudes and tasks, through basic and more advanced action planning skills, to self-care to avoid burnout. He also treats special clients including children, the addicted, and the seriously chronically mentally ill, and particularly challenging situations such as crisis intervention, and working with reluctant clients. The text includes sample case dialogues, lab practice activities based on the Ivey Microcounseling Training Model, reflection exercises, and a DVD with demonstrations of role-playing skills.