This graduate-level, introductory textbook provides instructors and students with a comprehensive overview of the profession of clinical mental health counseling (CMHC). Designed to cover the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) 2016 Standards and to provide an inclusive overview of the work of professional counselors, the book offers an in-depth exploration of the professional knowledge, skills, current issues, and dynamic trends in professional counseling that are essential parts of the educational journey of emerging clinicians. It provides readers with practical, applicable, real-world information upon which they can build through-out their programs of study and practice. Issues such as strength-based approaches, the various settings in which clinical mental health counselors may practice, record keeping and documentation, advocacy, professional roles, third-party payers and managed care, and self-care and professional development are vitally important to new counselors, and these subjects often are glanced over in an information-packed curriculum. In addition, the book covers the topics of crisis, disaster, and trauma, which constitute relatively new areas of emphasis within the CACREP Standards. Conceptually, it book looks at the history, roles, functions, settings, and contemporary issues of counseling through the lens of human ecological and integrated systems-of-care approaches. Unique to this particular textbook, and in juxtaposition to an ecological perspective of the individual, a focus on integrated systems of care in clinical mental health endeavors provides students with knowledge and skills that can help them to move seamlessly into the current world of work as clinical mental health counselors. The textbook is comprised of five sections, spanning the following clusters of CMHC-relevant information: (a) Introduction to Professional Counseling and Clinical Mental Health Counseling, (b) Working With Clients, (c) Practice Issues, (d) Working Within Systems, and (e) Client-Care and Self-Care Practices.

This book is useful to a wide range of readers and can readily serve as a core textbook or resource to explain the history, development, and current practice of rehabilitation counselors (RCs) within the context of the contemporary practice of counseling. Although most clearly useful to counselors-in-training in an introductory course, people think that those RCs at the doctoral level or already in practice interested in the field and its broader positioning and potential will find this book appealing. The book consists of 22 chapters that are divided into parts that emphasize different themes important to understanding both the people and types of situations with which RCs work and the specific roles and skill sets that describe professional practice. It consists of basic information about the structure and professional practice of rehabilitation counseling, and serves the important role of introducing the readers to the RC’s most important partner in the counseling process, the person with a disability. The book also focuses on the professional practice of rehabilitation counseling and introduces the new work in the field that sharpens the emphasis on evidence-based practices and research utilization in the field. It describes in detail, the specific functions that constitute the work of rehabilitation counseling: assessment, counseling, forensic and indirect services, clinical case management and case coordination, psychiatric rehabilitation, advocacy, and career development, vocational behavior, and work adjustment of individuals with disabilities. Further, the book introduces the competencies that provide the types of skills, knowledge, and attitudes that must infuse the practice of rehabilitation counseling because of their pervasive and overarching importance in all aspects of practice.

One of the historical pillars of rehabilitation counseling has been the use of assessment throughout the rehabilitation process. With this historical emphasis, it is not surprising that the focus on assessment and the methods and techniques used have changed and evolved. As a result, students, practitioners, and researchers are on a constant quest for updated and current information to guide and inform practice, policy, and research. This constant quest for updated and comprehensive information is directly relevant to the assessment of individuals typically served by rehabilitation and mental health practitioners and is the focus of this book. To date, there has not been a book that has been able to provide a comprehensive discussion of topics applicable to service delivery across both setting. This book attempts to fill this gap. One factor that guided the development of this book was the authors’ goal to provide both the foundational information necessary to understand and plan the assessment process and combine this material with information that is applicable to specific population and service delivery settings. To achieve this goal, each of the chapters is written by leaders in the field who have specialized knowledge regarding the chapter content. The chapters provide practical hands on information that allows for easy incorporation of the material to rehabilitation and mental health practice. To further strengthen practical application, case studies and templates have been incorporated where applicable to highlight specific key aspects to promote application to service delivery. Second, this is the first assessment book to be developed after the Council on Rehabilitation Counselor Education and Council on the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Programs merger. Finally, the authors hope that the readers of this book can apply this information to enhance the overall quality of life of the individuals they work with, especially individuals with disabilities.

The field of counseling is an exciting and challenging career choice. It is a profession that has a prolific history of enabling person-centered counseling approaches for individuals, couples, partners, and families, and facilitates therapeutic services for children, adolescents, adults, and older adults. This book offers an excellent resource for graduate-level coursework that relates to an orientation to the counseling profession, professional issues, and special topic seminars, as well as other counseling-related coursework. It provides both contemporary insight and practical strategies for working with the complexity of real-life issues related to assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of diverse clients and their families. The book provides professionals with chapters organized into the 10 CACREP and CORE content areas that address the awareness, knowledge, and skills required to work with children, adolescents, individuals, groups, couples, families, and persons from diverse cultural backgrounds. The content areas are: professional counseling identity, ethical and practice management issues, case management and consultation issues, multicultural counseling awareness, counseling theories and techniques, career counseling and human growth, assessment and diagnosis, counseling couples, families, and groups, counseling specific populations, and contemporary issues in counseling.