The Heart of Counseling: Counseling Skills through Therapeutic Relationships

361 Pages·2015·1.62 MB·English

by  Jeff L. Cochran

THE HEART OF
COUNSELING
More than any other text on the market, The Heart of Counseling is effective
in helping students to understand the importance of therapeutic relationships
and to develop the qualities that make the therapeutic relationships they build
with clients the foundation of healing. In these pages, students come to see
how all skills arise from, and are directly related to, the counselor’s develop-
ment and to building therapeutic relationships. Student learning ranges from
therapeutic listening and empathy to structuring sessions, from explaining
counseling to clients and caregivers to providing wrap-around services, and
ultimately to experiencing therapeutic relationships as the foundation of
professional and personal growth.
The Heart of Counseling includes:
(cid:129) case studies and discussions applying skills in school and agency
settings;
(cid:129) specific guidance on how to translate the abstract concepts of
therapeutic relationships into concrete skill sets;
(cid:129) exploration of counseling theories and tasks within, and extending
from, core counseling skills;
(cid:129) videos that bring each chapter to life;
(cid:129) test banks, instructor’s manuals, syllabi, and guidance for learning-
outcomes assessments for professors.
Jeff L. Cochran is a professor in the department of educational psychology
and counseling at the University of Tennessee.
Nancy H. Cochran is an adjunct faculty member in the department of
educational psychology and counseling at the University of Tennessee and the
treatment coordinator of the UT REACH Project.
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THE HEART OF
COUNSELING
Counseling Skills Through
Therapeutic Relationships
2nd edition
Jeff L. Cochran and
Nancy H. Cochran
Second edition published 2015
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 2FA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2015 Jeff L. Cochran and Nancy H. Cochran
The right of Jeff L. Cochran and Nancy H. Cochranto be identified as
authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Cengage Learning 2005
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Cochran, Jeff L.
The heart of counseling: counseling skills through therapeutic
relationships/by Jeff L. Cochran & Nancy H. Cochran.—
Second edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Counseling. I. Cochran, Nancy H. II. Title.
BF636.6.C63 2015
158.3—dc23
2014027790
ISBN: 978-0-415-71242-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-71243-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-88406-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon and Myriad Pro
by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK
Additional materials are available on the companion website at www.routledgementalhealth.com/cw/cochran
The first edition of The Heart of Counseling was dedicated to “the many
students that we have come to know through deep sharing of feelings and
ideas.” That dedication remains for this 2nd edition, with the addition of the
many counseling students that we continue to learn with, plus the clients who
continue to teach and inspire us to share our learning of healing and growth
through therapeutic relationships.
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CONTENTS
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1 Twelve Concepts: Roots that Ground and Grow with
the Heart of Counseling 6
2 The Rich and Subtle Skills of Therapeutic Listening 23
3 Striving for Empathy 48
4 Expressing Empathy 69
5 Striving For and Communicating Unconditional Positive
Regard 89
6 The Delicate Balance of Providing Empathy and UPR in
a Genuine Manner 116
7 Beginning with New Clients and Questions of Client
Conceptualization 139
8 Structuring Therapeutic Relationships 164
9 When Clients Need Help Getting Started 183
10 Managing Client Crises with Therapeutic Relationship Skills 199
11 Ending Therapeutic Relationships 236
12 Therapeutic Relationships Across Cultures 264
viii CONTENTS
13 Connecting Heart to Hand: Doing More, Going Beyond,
Staying True 280
14 Heart and Mind: Major Counseling Theories and Therapeutic
Relationships 301
15 Bringing Heart to All You Do 316
Concluding Thoughts: Growing Your Therapeutic Relationship
Skills to Become Who You Are 341
Index 345
PREFACE
As counselor educators and supervisors, as well as counselors ourselves, we
have written and now revise The Heart of Counseling to solve a series of
related problems that we see as hurtful to the effectiveness of the helping
professions for persons in need. We know from the literature of counselor
development (Falender & Shafranske, 2004; Ronnestad & Skovolt, 2003;
Stoltenberg, McNeill, & Delworth, 1998), as well as our experience, that it
is natural for beginning counselors to yearn for quick fixes for client problems.
It makes sense that many of us came into the helping profession to be active
helpers, and therefore are eager to apply various counseling techniques. Con -
foundi ng the situation is the contrast between beginning counselors’ need
for concrete skills versus the fact that counseling concepts, especially those
of therapeutic relationships, are highly abstract. One result is that beginn ing
counselors are often tempted to dive straight into counseling techniques
aimed at forcing immediate behavior change without developing a therapeutic
relationship to ensure that clients own the changes they make.
We know from experience and the growing body of supportive literature
(Hubble, Duncan, & Miller, 1999; Norcross, 2002, 2011) that the therapeutic
relationship a counselor forms with each client can be the most powerful tool
for helping clients change. So one of our goals is to help readers see that “slow
is fast”—to see the value of the therapeutic relationships they can develop.
We frame all counseling skills through therapeutic relationships: from active
listening and reflection to treatment planning, and explaining counseling to
clients, parents, teachers and administrators; from deep empathy to structuring
sessions such that change will happen; from unconditional positive regard
for clients to helping clients manage crises; from genuineness with clients
to reaching across cultures and beyond. We provide readers with extensive
setting-based examples of counseling skills through therapeutic relationships
in action. We help readers to be active learners, to see themselves in thera -
peutic relationships in their settings, and to develop themselves for the
therapeutic relationships they will form. We help readers see how counseling
skills through therapeutic relationships form a foundation for all that coun -
selors do, including: integrating techniques from theories of psychotherapy
aimed at immediate client change, skill-teaching and guidance; assessment and
diagnosis; hallway moments with clients in schools and other interactions