Intentional Counseling: Practice Guided by Theory

Written for students in training and those new to the helping profession, Intentional Counseling: Practice Guided by Theory blends theory, practice, and guided personalized application to help readers move from simply gathering and receiving information to using information effectively to help their clients.

The book discusses the importance of acquiring the necessary cognitive skills to “think like a counselor.” Case illustrations, presentations, and analyses in combination with directed activities, provide opportunities for both practice and feedback. Each chapter includes a description of the theoretical constructs presented in the chapter, supporting research, clinical illustrations of the concepts and constructs, and guided practice.

Designed to help those new to the field, Intentional Counseling moves beyond the traditional discussion of counseling theories to demonstrate their values in guiding practice decisions. Intentional Counseling helps the reader employ organizing schema to data reception, storage, and utilization, all in service of procedural knowledge. Illustrated through application of solution-based, cognitive, behavioral, reality therapy/choice theory, and feminist counseling theories, the book trains readers to think like experts, and then act accordingly.

Dr. Richard Parsons has been a private practitioner for over thirty years, and serves as a consultant to mental health service organizations throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. He is also a professor in the Counselor Education Department at West Chester University, and the author of over 80 books, chapters, and articles.

Dr. Cheryl Neale-McFall is an assistant professor at West Chester University, a nationally board-certified counselor, and a licensed professional counselor who has worked with clients at every point in the lifespan. Her research interests include counselor-educator-mothers’ work/life enrichment, counseling supervision, and counselor identity formation.