A Counseling Primer: Orientation to the Profession offers beginning counseling students thorough, succinct, and user-friendly answers to their questions and concerns about the profession. While other orientation texts are either overwhelmingly comprehensive or target only a segment of what should be covered in an introductory course, this book strives to act as a primer that not only covers essential first-course topics but that also motivates readers to continue on to the rest of their curriculum with increased self-awareness and enthusiasm for professional counseling as their career of choice.

Presented in a practical format and written in a clear, engaging style, A Counseling Primer: Orientation to the Profession covers all major content areas that afford students an orientation to professional counseling, train them in the most basic listening skills, and provide them with the opportunity to gain the self-awareness essential for effective counselors. The text, which covers Standard One, Professional Identity, one of the eight core areas of the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) curriculum, is structured to answer the Who, What, When, Where, and Whys of counseling and focuses on students’ own self-awareness, observational skills, self-growth, and positive change.