Foundations of Counseling People: A Guide for the Counseling, Psychological, and Helping Professions

Those in the counseling profession are interacting more with people from other cultures, the U.S. sphere of influence throughout the world is spreading, increasingly, we are providing services to clients who are not Caucasian or of European heritage, and our educational programs have been active in training both domestic students of diverse ethnic backgrounds as well as foreign students. These factors combine to contribute to the need for those who provide counseling to understand the elements involved in interacting with a wide spectrum of people. This book meets that need by providing a brief synopsis on such topics as common factors, values, universals, cross-cultural competence, and models, approaches, and psychological perspectives of human behavior (theories of personality). The emphasis is on material that relies more on the use of the scientific method and data instead of anecdotal and experiential literature. For the reader who is interested in obtaining information from which statements are derived, there are references to investigate the material further. Unlike other book that stress the barriers between counselor and client, this book adds the perspective that there are factors that facilitate interactions between the two. There are also frequent cross-cultural examples in the book. To facilitate awareness of similarities and differences in views of human behavior, samples of African, Arab, Chinese, and European/American perspectives are represented. There is also a relatively large section on applications. This consists of such subjects as cross-cultural aspects of psychological theories, ethics, research, tests, Euro-American approaches and experiences, client characteristics, client and counselor interactions, and therapeutic techniques. Many other topics are covered, as well. Students and professionals in the fields of counseling and psychology will find this book to be an invaluable addition to their library.