The Heart of Counseling: Counseling Skills Through Therapeutic Relationships

More than any other text on the market, The Heart of Counseling is effective in helping students to understand the importance of therapeutic relationships and to develop the qualities that make the therapeutic relationships they build with clients the foundation of healing. In these pages, students come to see how all skills arise from and are directly related to the counselor’s development and to building therapeutic relationships. Student learning ranges from therapeutic listening and empathy to structuring sessions, from explaining counseling to clients and caregivers to providing wrap-around services, and ultimately to experiencing therapeutic relationships as the foundation of professional and personal growth.

The Heart of Counseling includes:

• extensive case studies and discussions applying skills in school and agency settings
• specific guidance on how to translate the abstract concepts of therapeutic relationships into concrete skill sets
• exploration of counseling theories and tasks within and extending from core counseling skills
• videos that bring each chapter to life
• test banks, instructor’s manuals, syllabi, and guidance for learning-outcomes assessments for professors

"The Heart of Counseling is one of the most important texts in counseling and psychotherapy in many years. The latest research in the field demonstrates that the therapeutic relationship is vital for success in counseling and psychotherapy. Jeffrey and Nancy Cochran’s book is simply the best available for explaining how to build and maintain the therapeutic relationship throughout the course of counseling. It is filled with numerous examples and practical advice that make it a valuable text for counseling students, practicing counselors, and counselor educators."―Howard Kirschenbaum, EdD, author of The Life and Work of Carl Rogers and Values Clarification in Counseling and Psychotherapy

"This highly readable second edition of The Heart of Counseling solidifies its place as an icon in the professional counseling literature. With a strong scholarly base and an incredibly creative and hands-on presentation of counseling skills and concepts, and with a rich repertoire of counseling vignettes, the authors actively engage the reader in the learning process. I found that the book challenged me, encouraged me, and added to my continuing development as a counselor educator and as a professional counselor."―A. Scott McGowan, PhD, past editor of the Journal of Counseling and Development

"Research literature provides overwhelming evidence for the importance of the therapeutic relationship in all forms of psychotherapy. In the second edition of their excellent book, Cochran and Cochran continue to illuminate the intersection of science and art necessary for professionals to create healing relationships. Not only do they offer readers pragmatic guidelines for learning this foundational skill, but they also suggest contemplative exercises to encourage the equally important personal development that is key to integrating relationship knowledge and skill into a professional identity. The combination provides the best approach I know for students and professionals in any discipline to develop and strengthen their ability to build the kinds of relationships necessary for positive client growth and change. I look forward to using it with my students."―Michael M. Morgan, PhD, associate professor of counselor education and supervision at the University of Wyoming

Jeff L. Cochran is a professor in the department of educational psychology and counseling at the University of Tennessee.

Nancy H. Cochran is an adjunct faculty member in the department of educational psychology and counseling at the University of Tennessee and the treatment coordinator of the UT REACH Project.