Skills for Effective Counseling - (Christian Association for Psychological Studies Books) (Paperback)

About the Book

Effective counseling depends on mastering basic communication skills. In this integrative, classroom-ready text, Elisabeth Nesbit Sbanotto, Heather Davediuk Gingrich and Fred Gingrich break these skills into manageable microskills and connect them to insights and practices from Scripture, theology and spiritual formation.

Book Synopsis

Master the Art of Communication for Counseling and Beyond

Anyone in a helping profession--including professional counselors, spiritual directors, pastoral counselors, chaplains and others--needs to develop effective communication skills. But learning these skills is like learning a new language: it takes time and practice to communicate effectively, and lack of practice can lead to the loss of one's ability to use this new language.

Suitable for both beginning students and seasoned practitioners, Skills for Effective Counseling provides a biblically integrated approach to foundational counseling skills that trains the reader to use specific microskills. These skills include perceiving, attending, validating emotion and empathic connection.

Chapters include textbook features such as sample session dialogues, role plays and a variety of both in-class and out-of-class exercises and reflection activities that will engage various learning styles. Strategically interwoven throughout the chapters are special topics related to:

• multicultural counseling
• biblical/theological applications
• current and seminal research related to microskills
• diagnostic and theoretical implications
• clinical tips for using skills in "real world" counseling settings
• the relevance of specific microskills to interpersonal relationships and broader ministry settings

This textbook and the accompanying IVP Instructor Resources include all of the activities and assignments that an instructor might need to execute a graduate, undergraduate, or lay course in foundational counseling skills. Professors teaching within CACREP-accredited professional counseling programs will be able to connect specific material in the textbook to the latest CACREP Standards.

About the Series

Christian Association for Psychological Studies (CAPS) Books explore how Christianity relates to mental health and behavioral sciences including psychology, counseling, social work, and marriage and family therapy in order to equip Christian clinicians to support the well-being of their clients.

Review Quotes

"Skills for Effective Counseling is a comprehensive yet accessible textbook written from decades of professional practice by the authors. It is for people helpers across a variety of roles--professional counselors, pastoral care providers, spiritual directors, and life coaches--and features a wealth of training activities, exercises, and transcript analysis. This is a welcome addition to the counselor education fields."

--Gary W. Moon, executive director, Martin Institute and Dallas Willard Center, Westmont College, author of Apprenticeship with Jesus, editor of Eternal Living

"Skills for Effective Counseling is well written, comprehensive, and very helpful for training counseling skills, covering essential microskills with the integration of Christian faith and counseling. This is a much-needed book for the effective training of Christian professional counselors as well as lay counselors. Highly recommended!"

--Siang-Yang Tan, professor of psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary, author of Counseling and Psychotherapy

"Skills for Effective Counseling strives to equip a new generation with listening skills and a constructive framework to counsel with love in service of Jesus Christ. Forty years ago, Gary R. Collins demystified counseling and connected basic helping principles with Christian discipleship in How to Be a People Helper. In Skills for Effective Counseling, Sbanotto, Gingrich, and Gingrich honor the heart of that pioneering quest. This is a foundational text that is accessible, intentional, integrative, systematic, and reflective. It is accessible in that it is multiculturally aware, jargon free, and adaptable to ministry. The intentional design to promote quality-helping encounters is evident in its sequential approach, dialogue samples, and plentiful learning activities. The faith-integrative component is found in comparative tables and discussion. Contemporary counseling links to Christian soul care. Each chapter systematically bridges pivotal empirical findings with elevated conversation. The reader is shown how to increase communication habits that deepen interpersonal relationships and motivate growth. There are countless opportunities for self-reflection with scales to obtain insightful feedback. This book unfolds a helping process that is realistic, hopeful, and, most importantly, biblically faithful. Finally, a faith-sensitive, microskills text for the next generation of people helpers."

--Stephen P. Greggo, professor of counseling, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

"Every day I look for resources that will help me and others become more effective in helping counsel and minister to others. Whether you are a beginning student, seasoned clinician, or pastor, Skills for Effective Counseling is a must-add to your library. It is clinically excellent, biblically anchored, and easy to understand yet filled with immense wisdom and understanding."

--Tim Clinton, president, American Association of Christian Counselors

About the Author

Elisabeth A. Nesbit Sbanotto is a consultant, speaker, writer, counselor and educator. She is assistant professor of counseling at Denver Seminary and the coauthor with Craig Blomberg of Effective Generational Ministry. A national certified counselor and registered psychotherapist, she maintains a private practice in Littleton, Colorado.

Heather Davediuk Gingrich is a counselor, scholar, teacher and former missionary. She is professor of counseling at Denver Seminary and maintains a small private practice working with complex trauma survivors. She is the author of Restoring the Shattered Self.

Fred C. Gingrich is professor of counseling at Denver Seminary and served as division chair from 2007 to 2015. He practiced and taught in Ontario for fourteen years prior to directing MA and EdD degrees in counseling at seminaries in the Philippines.