Mental Health Counselling

Research suggests that the presence of the therapist, and how the therapist truly forges a connection with the client in therapy, are the most crucial factors affecting the client’s healing process. An engaged, committed, caring therapist who is mindful of his or her own self - and how that self relates to the client - is the key determinant of how well that client will respond to therapy.

In my book, I go beyond offering just a theoretical definition of what a skill is and an explanation of what it does in a counselling relationship. I share a deeper look into the skills and explore a more philosophical explanation from my own experience as a practising therapist and former counselling tutor.

Solution focused brief therapy (SFBT) is a therapeutic approach that focuses on the client’s hoped-for future instead of their ongoing problems. Elliott E. Connie and Adam S. Froerer are the founders of The Solution Focused Universe and are two of the most respected and innovative experts in their field. Together, they have developed the Diamond model—a framework of SFBT skills and tools designed to guide a clinician through each session of therapy—which is one of the biggest innovations in the field of solution focused brief therapy.

This book offers therapists an integrated approach to adding a polyvagal foundation to their work with clients. With clear explanations of the organizing principles of Polyvagal theory, this complex theory is translated into clinician and client-friendly language. Using a unique autonomic mapping process designed to effectively track autonomic response patterns, this book presents practical ways to work with clients' experiences of connection.

Moving seamlessly from coaching fundamentals to more advanced ideas such as helping clients to identify life purpose, recognize and combat obstacles, align values and actions, maintain a positive mind-set, and live with integrity, this new edition is one-stop-shopping for beginner and advanced coaches alike. Beginning with a brief history of the foundations of coaching and its future trajectory, Becoming a Professional Life Coach takes listeners step-by-step through the coaching process, covering all the crucial ideas and techniques for being a successful life coach.

A Therapist's Guide to EMDR reviews the theoretical basis for EMDR and presents new information on the neurobiology of trauma. It provides a detailed explanation of the procedural steps along with helpful suggestions and modifications. Areas essential to successful utilization of EMDR are emphasized. These include: case conceptualization; preparation for EMDR trauma processing, including resource development and installation; target development; methods for unblocking blocked processing, including the creative use of interweaves; and session closure.

Building the Bonds of Attachment is the third edition of a critically acclaimed book for social workers, therapists, and parents who strive to assist children with reactive attachment disorder. This work is a composite case study of the developmental course of one child following years of abuse and neglect.

Louis Cozolino, one of our most compelling clinical writers, takes us inside the mind and heart of a seasoned therapist, carrying on the tradition of personal and professional writing begun in The Making of a Therapist. This book discusses some of the more abstract concepts and ways of interacting with clients, such as relaxed curiosity, finding the secret ally, and discovering the deep narrative. Also addressed are clinical concepts such as related states of mind, the process of change, free-floating attention, and listening with the third ear.

This best-selling classic presents seminal theory and research on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Together, the leading editors and contributors comprehensively examine how trauma affects an individual's biology, conceptions of the world, and psychological functioning. Key topics include why certain people cope successfully with traumatic experiences while others do not, the neurobiological processes underlying PTSD symptomatology, and enduring questions surrounding traumatic memories and dissociation.

Viktor E. Frankl was a medical doctor at a psychiatric hospital in 1942 when he became a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps in World War II. In 1946, he published this book about his camp experiences and a method of psychotherapy he developed. Forty-five years later, it was still named one of the most influential books in the United States. Part One describes his three years in four Nazi concentration camps, which took the lives of his wife, father, mother, and brother. He closely observed inmates’ reactions to their situation, as well as how survivors came to terms with their liberation.

We all spend a lot of energy trying to get the people in our lives to listen to us, and despite our best efforts, we often fail. But what if the secret to influencing others was to demonstrate acceptance? Enter validation—communication that one is mindful, understands, and empathizes with another person's experience, thereby accepting it as valid. As both a means and an end, validation has profound effects, from improving relationships and de-escalating conflicts to increasing our ability to generate self-compassion and help people change their behavior.

Drawn from Dr. Bob Wendorf's 36-year career as a clinical psychologist, the book examines the lives of some of his most troubled patients in a project that aims to both educate and fascinate the listener. Clinical syndromes are described and dramatized by real-life case examples (altered only as necessary to protect patient confidentiality).

Facing memory loss at age ninety-three as well as the fallout from a global pandemic that moved much of daily life online, legendary psychotherapist Irvin D. Yalom was forced to vastly reconsider the shape of his sessions with patients. Rather than throw in the towel in the face of change, Dr. Yalom considered head-on the limitations imposed by these new realities and revolutionized his practice. Turning his focus to what might be achieved in a one-hour, one-time-only meeting between patient and practitioner, Dr. Yalom employed an even more concerted use of his “here and now” approach.

First published in 1980, Existential Psychotherapy is widely considered to be the foundational text in its field—the first to offer a methodology for helping patients to develop more adaptive responses to life’s core existential dilemmas. In this seminal work, American psychiatrist Irvin Yalom finds the essence of existential psychotherapy and gives it a coherent structure, synthesizing its historical background, core tenets, and usefulness to the practice.

Most people don't realize how much unresolved emotional pain they carry around. They don't know why they always feel depressed, anxious, victimized, or disappointed. They wonder why they keep making the same self-sabotaging impulsive decisions. These patterns often stem from their lost inner child, which carries a false narrative that has been on repeat since childhood.

An affair: It can rob a couple of their relationship, their happiness, their very identity. And yet this extremely common human experience is so poorly understood. Adultery has existed since marriage was invented, and so, too, the prohibition against it - in fact it has a tenacity that marriage can only envy. Iconic couples' therapist and best-selling author of Mating in Captivity Esther Perel returns with a groundbreaking and provocative look at infidelity, arguing for a more nuanced and less judgmental conversation about our transgressions.

Now in a fully rewritten fourth edition, this is the authoritative presentation of motivational interviewing (MI), the powerful approach to facilitating change. It has been updated and streamlined to be even more user-friendly as a practitioner guide and course text. MI originators William R. Miller and Stephen Rollnick elucidate the four tasks of MI—engaging, focusing, evoking, and planning—and vividly demonstrate what they look like in action. A wealth of vignettes and interview examples illustrate the dos and don'ts of successful implementation in diverse contexts.

You deserve love and affection. Dr. Elizabeth Cohen has been there - she really, truly knows how it feels to have your life derailed by divorce. As a therapist who has worked with hundreds of divorcing clients, she has developed the Afterglow method, which teaches you how to rediscover a life of growth, change, and abundance post-breakup.

If you're looking for ways to optimize your client sessions, consider joining the many thousands of therapists and life coaches worldwide who are learning acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). With a focus on mindfulness, client values, and a commitment to change, ACT is proven-effective in treating depression, anxiety, stress, addictions, eating disorders, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder (BPD), and myriad other psychological issues. It's also a revolutionary new way to view the human condition.

Couples therapist Dr. Tracy Dalgleish has spent the last seventeen years dedicated to helping hundreds of couples in distress find hope and healing, sometimes by staying together and other times not. Breakdowns in communication, lack of intimacy, infidelity, overbearing in-laws and exes (to name a few)―she's seen it all. Shortly after the birth of her first child, Dr. Tracy suddenly began to see herself in her clients' narratives.