A Brief Primer of Helping Skills (ePub)

A Brief Primer of Helping Skills is a highly readable, accessible, and practical introduction to the skills of helping and making a difference in people's lives. In an engaging and concise style, author Jeffrey A. Kottler gives students in various professions an overview of the theory, process, and skills of helping methods. It is designed as an operating manual for those in human service professions to learn the basics involved in developing helping relationships, assessing and diagnosing complaints, promoting exploration and understanding, and designing and implementing action plans.

Key Features

• Offers a brief introduction to the helping process: Written in an accessible and conversational style, this book helps students and professionals become familiar with the basic process quickly.


• Provides personal applications: This book helps students enrich their lives while learning how to be more helpful to others.


• Includes applications to a variety of settings and disciplines: Students can actually use material and skills in the book in all the various domains in which they function—at work, in volunteer agencies, with friends and family.


• Uses an integrative approach: The best features of all major theories and research are combined into a unified model of helping that is responsive to different needs.

Intended Audience

This supplemental text is ideal for introductory undergraduate and graduate courses such as Introduction to Social Work, Introduction to Counseling, and Introduction to Human Services in the fields of counseling, psychology, human services, social work, education, family studies, marital and family therapy, pastoral work, nursing, human resource development, and other helping professions. It is also an excellent resource for beginning practitioners.