Brief Counseling That Works: A Solution-Focused Approach for School Counselors and Administrators » (2nd Edition)

Gerald B. Sklare, EdD, LPCC (Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor), NCC (Nationally Certified Counselor), is a profes-sor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Both his master's degree and doctorate are in counselor education from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He has served as a teacher and counselor in elementary, junior high, and high schools; he has conducted workshops around the United States on SFBC; and he has practiced in school settings and in private practice using this approach.

"This book will aid adults who seek to be more effective in their interactions with youth, but even more important, it offers a framework to help school personnel reconnect to the values and purposes that brought them into education and keep their interactions with children consistently grounded in their best intentions."
William Madsen, Training Coordinator
Family Institute of Cambridge

"What you are about to read represents an ingenious application of narrative ideas to work in schools. While many people use these ideas, this book develops them in novel and interesting ways. This is some of the most creative and exciting work I have seen in this field."
Jeffrey Zimmerman, Director
Bay Area Family Therapy Training Associates

With caseloads often exceeding 500 students, counselors cannot afford to spend countless hours on traditional approaches to individual problems. Solution-Focused Brief Counseling (SFBC) offers counselors an effective approach that leads to rapid, observable change in students.

Brief Counseling That Works, Second Edition, combines step-by-step instructions with vivid case examples to provide a comprehensive and practical overview of the fundamental principles of SFBC. Author Gerald B. Sklare has extensively revised this second edition to include new adaptations of solution-focused methods, more opportunities to practice the SFBC model, and an expanded discussion of ways school administrators can use SFBC.

This concise guidebook contains many valuable tools, including:

• Reproducible materials for use with Solution-Focused Guided Imagery
• Short case studies and session transcripts to illustrate what SFBC looks like in practice
• Guidelines for using solution-focused methods with referred discipline cases
• Practice exercises to help readers apply the techniques
• Sample forms to use in SFBC

This essential resource for counselors will also be helpful to teachers and school administrators who advise elementary and secondary students, as well as psychologists and social workers who work with youth both in and out of the school setting.