Martin-Johnson, Counseling and Therapy Skills, 5/E

For decades Counseling and Therapy Skills has helped readers navigate from theory to practice on the path to becoming great therapists. The goal of this engagingly written text is to help beginning therapists learn skills without losing sight of the art of therapy. Great therapists are gifted at connecting with clients, achieving an almost artistic attunement.

While there are many ways to do successful therapy, common factors include evocative empathy in a strong relationship focused on mutual, collaborative cognitive/experiential processing. Active, arousing, and evocative empathy encourages clients to explore their feelings. Learning to be ahead of clients allows therapists to bring the clients’ deep experiences to life, empowering clients to be problem solvers and giving therapists helpful, active roles.

The first section of the book describes fundamental skills. “Observing Therapy,” a five-hour video recording of actual therapy sessions, accompanies the book. This learning tool demonstrates evocative empathy and is a guide for responding to clients. The final chapter in this section addresses experiential understanding, emergent modes of expressing empathy, mindfulness, presence, and being in the zone as a therapist. The second section offers practical advice about beginning therapy sessions, settings for therapy, ethical issues, different formats for therapy, and material on being a culturally competent therapist. The third section summarizes the latest research evidence on what makes therapy effective. It also explores the nature of emotional problems to give therapists a foundation for understanding why evocative empathy works.

Counseling and Therapy Skills emphasizes material that the reader can use and translate into behavior. Woven throughout the text are the messages that therapy demands active involvement, empathy must be evocative, and the therapist must work at the leading edge of the client’s experiencing. Significantly updated, the depth and insights of the fifth edition benefit both beginning and experienced counselors.