Therapeutic Interviewing Essential Skills and Contexts of Counseling

This newly updated introductory textbook is designed to help students of psychotherapy and counseling at all levels build the foundational strategies, skills, and tools essential for engaging clients in a therapeutic interview, developing a specialist understanding of the varying formats and diverse settings in which these interviews occur. In this second edition, Michael D. Reiter interweaves a new framework, the Issue Cycle, to help students build, from start to finish, a foundational template for engaging clients regardless of therapeutic model. With every chapter being revised, as well as including a new chapter on the ethical relationship that occurs in psychotherapy, the book begins with laying down the context of therapy, such as its definitions, motivations, and ethics, before moving on to developing students skills of therapy, including conversing, reflecting, goal-setting, terminating sessions, and how to avoid being an ineffective therapist. In Parts 3 and 4, chapters cover the contexts of clients and therapy, such as working with children, families, and groups, and includes a special revised focus on multicultural interviewing and effective online counseling. Including several interactive elements, such as case scenarios and application exercises, an instructor’s manual with a sample syllabus, essay questions and more, students can uniquely see theory in action. Practical and accessible, this textbook shall be essential reading for students of psychotherapy and counseling, as well as training family therapists, social workers, and other mental health professionals who work directly with those dealing with psychological, behavioral, and emotional difficulties.

Part I: The Context of The Therapy Relationship 1. Therapeutic Interviewing: Defining Therapy, Therapeutic Relationships, & The Interview2. The Therapy Client: Motivation & Understanding of Therapy 3. The Therapeutic Interviewer: Motivation & Impact of Being a Therapist4. Ethics: The Contract of the Relationship Part II: The Context of Skills of Therapy5. Beginning Conversational Skills: Use of Language for Joining and Maintaining an Interview6. Basic Reflecting Skills: Exploring Client Content7. Advanced Reflecting Skills: Exploring Client Feelings & Meanings 8. Questions & Goal-Setting Skills: Asking Purposeful Questions & Developing Collaborative Therapeutic Goals 9. Endings in Therapy: Summarizing, Ending Sessions, & Termination10. Pitfalls of Therapy: How to Avoid Being Ineffective11. Strength-Based Interviewing: Interviewing for Client Resources and Solutions Part III: The Contexts of Clients12. Therapeutic Assessment Interviewing: Intake Interviewing, Mental Status Exams, and Crisis Counseling 13. Therapeutic Interviewing with Diverse Clients 14. Therapeutic Interviewing with Children 15. Therapeutic Interviewing with Couples & Families 16. Therapeutic Interviewing with Groups Part IV: The Contexts of Therapy 17. Office-Based Therapy: Interviewing in the Therapist’s Domain 18. Home-Based Therapy: Interviewing in the Client’s Domain 19. Interviewing in Alternative Settings: Schools, Residential & In-Patient Facilities, & Telehealth

Michael D. Reiter, PhD, LMFT, is professor of family therapy at Nova Southeastern University. He is the author of 11previous books, including Systems Theories for Psychotherapists and Family Therapy: An Introduction to Process, Practice, and Theory (Routledge).