Essential Topics for the Helping Professional

<>This unique book provides students and new practitioners with an awareness of eight critical issues, along with sufficient basic information about treatments and recommendations for additional resources. Essential Topics offers readers a working familiarity with a range of issues that clinicians in all settings are likely to face at some point in their professional careers. 

Students in helping profession programs, including counseling and psychology, learn skills and techniques, but often feel unprepared to deal with the specific and difficult issues clients bring to them.  This book gives students and new practitioners an overview of eight critical issues (sexual abuse, eating disorders, self-mutilation, suicide, substance abuse, grief and loss, sexual minority concerns, and trauma and violence), including a definition and description of the problem and sections on prevalence, developmental issues and patterns, assessment strategies, treatment options, counselor issues (with a special note for school counselors), ethical concerns and additional resources. Each chapter includes an authentic case study as well as exercises that encourage students to extend their understanding.