[.ca] Introduction to Counseling: An Art and Science Perspective (ISBN 0205350941)

An Excellent Introductory Book to Counseling:
Nystul's "Introduction to Counseling: An Art and Science Perspective" is an excellent book for the beginning counselor either at the undergraduate level or the graduate level (we all start somewhere). I was assigned this book for my first Master's level class and it provided an excellent background into my chosen field. When I read the book, it cured a lot of questions that I had about counseling. I learned a lot of information that I either did not know or realize. Specifically, the book not only introduces the reader to counseling techniques, but also provides an overview of theoretical approaches, ethics and legal issues, assessment and diagnosis, and diversity issues. In addition, this book gives information on counseling approaches with various populations (i.e. child, group, family, school, career and mental health etc). Also, Nystul (1999) provided background information as well as practical techniques for each theory that he explained. Moreover, this book gives a superb rendition of various types of counselors and the description of duties that they perform. My favorite parts of the book are the "personal notes" where the author gives a story or example to go along with his discussion of a subject. The personal notes provide a great modality for the reader to look at a concept in a realistic or life-like manner. Most importantly, the book is organized extremely well and makes reading a lot easier than most textbooks; it utilizes pictures, diagrams, charts and etc. to get the point across in an effective and efficient manner. As a graduate student who utilized this book, I would highly recommend this book to professors, counselors and counseling students. Overall, it is an excellent source of background counseling information and for additional resources to aid in a person's development as a counselor. I almost forgot, the reason that I gave the book a 4 star rating and not a five is because general information about counseling can be quite dry reading material, it all depends on the individual reading it. Nonetheless, as mentioned previously, the author uses various techniques to help the reader absorb the necessary material (to become a counselor) in the most painless manner. Thus, the book gets my 4 stars.