Basic Attending Skills: Foundations of Empathic Relationships and Problem Solving

by Allen E. Ivey, Norma Gluckstern Packard, Mary Ivey

In Basic Attending Skills: Foundations of Empathic Relationships and Problem Solving, students learn and master the fundamental skills of listening, including attending behavior, questions, encouragers, paraphrasing, reflection of feelings, and summarization through a straightforward, step-by-step process. Readers discover how the essential skills of listening and interviewing are critical for counseling, psychotherapy, and meaningful interpersonal communication.

Over the course of eight chapters, students review basic attending skills, effective listening strategies, the community genogram, emotional regulation, and more. They learn how to leverage and apply only listening skills to complete a well-structured interview with a client that is effective, adapted to the individual, and incorporates multicultural practice. The integration of a client's behavior, thoughts, and feelings into effective treatment is also addressed.

The sixth edition includes in-depth explanation of why the community genogram is useful and how to incorporate it into an interview; a deeper focus on strengths, resiliency, and the positive asset search; and information of neuroscience, its relationship to counseling, and what practitioners need to know about the brain to work more effectively with clients.

A foundational guide for effective practice, Basic Attending Skills is well suited for introductory courses in counseling.

Dr. Allen Ivey earned his doctorate in counseling at Harvard University and is distinguished university professor (emeritus) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is a past president and fellow of the Society for Counseling Psychology of the American Psychological Association, as well as fellow of the Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race and the Asian American Psychological Association.

Dr. Mary Bradford Ivey earned her doctorate at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. A fellow of the American Counseling Association, her elementary guidance program was named one of the top ten in the United States. She has lectured widely throughout the United States and internationally, and is the author of multiple books, chapters, and articles.

Norma Gluckstern Packard received her doctorate from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she and Mary Bradford Ivey were among the founding members of the Women's Center. From Amherst, Norma went on to teach in the psychology department at Catholic University. She left the academic world and became the first female warden at Patuxent Correctional Facility in Maryland. While there, she developed many innovative rehabilitation programs that received national accolades, and she was featured on 60 minutes. Since then, she has moved on to writing, consulting, and teaching online.

Genres: Counselling, Nonfiction

168 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1999

About the author

Allen E. Ivey received his counseling doctorate from Harvard University and is distinguished Emeritus Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Courtesy Professor, Counselor Education, University of South Florida, Tampa. He is past-President and Fellow of the Society for Counseling Psychology of the American Psychological Association, APA’s Society for the Study of Ethnic and Minority Psychology, the Asian-American Psychological Association, and the American Counseling Association. He has received many awards throughout his career and has authored over 40 books and 200 articles and chapters. His works have been translated into 23 languages. His recent work has focused on applying Developmental Counseling and Therapy and neuroscience to the analysis and treatment of severe psychological distress.

Reviews

[Kat Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone in ministry should read this! Communication and attending skills are such a neglected aspect of ministry training

[Zoe Christofis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved that it has little activities to follow along and practice these skills and prompts for reflection. It's both a great teaching and professional development tool in the space of allied health.

[Maggie Ardizzoni · Rating 4 out of 5]

short and concise, very helpful for counseling skills!

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was far more basic than my other textbook for class (Fundamentals of Helping) and very specific to counseling/group therapy, as opposed to school counseling, etc. I was SUPER frustrated by the fact that there is not a single citation in the entire book. It's like a workbook, which is fine, but the book will suggest that "research shows..." and then not even provide an ENDNOTE to guide the reader to those studies. This is a pet peeve of mine in any non-fiction book, let alone a textbook.

Honestly, the points felt pretty obvious for the most part. There were companion videos as well, and they honestly looked like cheesy 80s-90s era instructional vids (though they weren't actually that old.)

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good resource, but ugh. Boring read.

[Bizarred Elips · Rating 5 out of 5]

basic skils