Basic Attending Skills

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.