This text presents the counseling student and beginning counselor with the necessary skills, interventions, and strategies for conceptualizing theoretically, planning therapy for change, and developing a means for self-assessment.

In this Sixth Edition the process of counseling is addressed from beginning to conclusion.  A new chapter (Chapter 2) has been added to present basic counseling skills as well as advanced counseling skills, including verbal, nonverbal, and paralanguage. The authors have maintained the basic organization of the text, beginning with an overview of the stages of counseling, specific goals and interventions for each stage, and including chapters on affective, behavioral, cognitive and systemic interventions, and termination. The text provides a conceptual structure for viewing the counseling process and then examines each part of that structure in depth, addressing necessary counseling skills.