Tough Kids, Cool Counseling, Second Edition

Tough Kids, Cool Counseling: User-Friendly Approaches With Challenging Youth, Second Edition

Additional Information:

The Sommers-Flanagans offer both sound theoretical underpinnings and numerous methods mental health professionals can use to counsel young people effectively. The second edition is even richer than the first—and I’ve worn the cover and a few pages, front and back, off my first edition copy—in that it is up-to-date and written in the authors’ heartfelt, unpretentious voice that makes this book as user-friendly as the approach they put forward.

—Kurt L. Kraus, EdD
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania

School personnel and school counselors-in-training, community and family counselors, and parents will benefit from the concepts, perspectives, and ideas presented in this unique book. The authors’ emphasis is on techniques that will enhance counseling skills and build the reader’s repertoire of strategies to use to connect with children and adolescents.

—Tamara E. Davis, EdD
Marymount University

Counseling kids can be difficult, especially when you are trying to work with children and teens who are resistant, confrontational, or noncommunicative. This book offers practical strategies for overcoming resistance, fostering constructive therapy relationships, and creating opportunities for client change and growth. John and Rita Sommers-Flanagan clearly enjoy working with kids—no matter how tough—and their infectious spirit and creative techniques will help you bring renewed energy into the counseling process.

In this second edition, the authors offer a new chapter on resistance busters and present updated and fresh ideas for establishing rapport, carrying out informal assessments, improving negative moods, modifying maladaptive behaviors, and educating parents. Suicide assessment, medication referrals, and therapy termination are also discussed in this helpful resource.