Developing Your Theoretical Orientation in Counseling and Psychotherapy

by Duane A. Halbur, Kimberly Vess Halbur

This guide is designed to assist therapists in training—mental health counselors, psychologists, social workers, school counselors, substance abuse counselors, psychotherapists, and peer helpers—in the process of finding a theoretical orientation congruent with their own personal values. In it, readers get a look at the theory and practices involved in the process; a concise, helpful reminder/overview of the major theories of counseling; and specific learning activities, reflection questions, and case examples interspersed throughout. Unique to this book are the authors’ Intentional Theory Selection (ITS) model, a contemporary model for selecting a theoretical orientation congruent with one’s personal values, and the Selective Theory Sorter-Revised (STS-R), a survey for discovering which research theories a counselor might endorse. Updated throughout, the Third Edition focuses on assisting clinicians further in finding their theoretical orientation in a diverse society while enjoying the self-exploration process. The authors have presented the ITS model and the STS-R at many professional conferences, incorporating the feedback into the new edition.

Genres: Grad School

136 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2014

Reviews

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first 47 pages of this textbook are pure gold -- it is an excellent guide to developing self-awareness through the use of reflection questions to help identify one's theoretical orientation. I highly recommend this piece to anyone struggling or experiencing anxiety around choosing a theoretical orientation. Where it falls short, unfortunately, is the educational component of the individual theories; the book gives brief descriptions of six schools of thought (psychodynamic, behavioral, humanistic, pragmatic, constructivist, and family) that are not remotely sufficient for a Counseling Theories course, which is disappointing because those first 47 pages are truly phenomenal. I would recommend this textbook as part of an Introduction to Counseling course (although, CACREP standards would likely require an additional textbook); for use of the first 47 pages as part of a Counseling Theories course; or for individual, personal growth as a counselor.

Background: I am a current Master's in Clinical Mental Health Counseling graduate student reading this textbook for fun. I am in the beginning of an accelerated summer course on Counseling Theories, for which I'm halfway through the assigned textbook Counseling and Psychotherapy Theories in Context and Practice: Skills, Strategies, and Techniques.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great look into theories used in counseling.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very handy little book that tells about the theoretical orientations in counseling and how they are used and applied. It also cleared up some questions I had in previous classes. I recommend this book to help in discovering your own theory for your future practice or what have you. Glad that this was recommended to buy in my Master's level class.