Part 1 Laying the groundwork: formal and informal helpers; a very brief history; what helping is about; does helping help?; the good, the cautionary, and the bad news; is helping for everyone?; what this book is and what it is not; moving from smart to wise - managing the shadow side of helping; overview of the helping model; a natural problem-management process; the skilled-helper model; stage I - the current state of affairs - clarification of the key issues calling for change; stage II - the preferred scenario - helping clients determine what they need and want. Stage III: Strategies for action - helping clients discover how to get what they need and want; action - making it all happen - helping clients turn decisions into problem-managing action; ongoing evaluation of the helping process - how are we doing?; flexibility in the use of the model; developing a whole-process mentality - miniversions of the entire model; understanding and dealing with the shadow side of helping models; the helping relationship - values in action; the helping relationship; the working alliance; the culture of helping - values in action; the value of respect; the value of genuineness - beyond professionalism and phoniness; the value of client empowerment - helping clients develop self-responsibility; a working charter - the client-helper contract; shadow-side realities in the relationship. Part 2 Communication skills for helping: attending, listening, and understanding; attending - being visibly tuned in to clients; active listening; the shadow side of listening to clients; listening to oneself - the helper's shadow conversation; basic empathy; the three dimensions of responding skills - perceptiveness, know-how, and assertiveness; basic empathy - communicating understanding to clients; the key elements of basic empathy; principles to guide the use of basic empathy; poor substitutes for empathy; tactics for communicating empathy; a caution - the importance of empathic relationships; the art of probing and summarizing; principles in the use of probes; the art of summarizing - providing focus and direction; integrating communication skills - the seamless use of attending, listening, understanding, empathy, probing, and summarizing; becoming proficient at communication skills; the shadow side of communication skills. Part 3 Stage I of the helping model and advanced communication skills: step I-A - helping clients tell their stories; the goals of step I-A; helping clients explore problem situations and unexploited opportunities; step I-A and action; the shadow side of step I-A; evaluation questions for step I-A; reluctant and resistant clients; reluctance/misgivings about change; resistance/reacting to coercion/principles for managing reluctance and resistance; step I-B - the nature of challenging/helping clients challenge themselves; introduction to challenging - helping clients deal with their blind spots; the goals of challenging.
