Hope-Focused Marriage Counseling: A Guide to Brief Therapy. This item is unavailable.Hope-Focused Marriage Counseling: A Guide to Brief Therapy

An essential reference for counselors, therapists & pastors.
Everett Worthington, one of today's most widely respected and widely published Christian counselors, offers a comprehensive manual for assisting couples over common rough spots and through serious problems in a manner that is compassionate and effective yet in a brief amount of time.

His hope-focused (rather than problem-focused) approach enables couples to see that change is possible and gives them a new outlook on the future. Combining this with a brief approach that addresses the realities of managed care and tight budgets, Worthington shows how to be strategic in each counseling situation by including teaching, training, exercises, forgiveness, modeling and motivation.

At the heart of the book are dozens of interventions and homework assignments a counselor can choose from, including

[] drawing on central values
[] promoting confession and forgiveness
[] strengthening communication
[] aiding conflict resolution
[] changing patterns of thinking
[] developing intimacy
[] cementing commitment

With over one hundred options presented, counselors, pastors and social workers are given the flexibility they need to address the specific situation of each client. Moving couples closer to what God intended their marriage to be is not easy, but it is possible.

Hope-focused marriage counseling, like other forms of counseling, is based on a good relationship. The goal of professional (and sometimes pastoral) marriage counseling is to produce strong, less troubled marriages. Worthington offers a three-part strategy to build hope through fostering motivation, showing couples tangible ways to change and strengthening their resolve to wait on God. The strategy includes correcting weaknesses in love, faith and work. He also considers eight areas of marriage in which problems might be concentrated.

Backed by years of experience and substantial research on the use of hope-focused marriage counseling with couples who want to better their relationships, this approach offers hope to counselors that they can provide help to troubled couples quickly, compassionately and effectively.

Everett Worthington Jr. (Ph.D., Missouri), is professor of psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he received the Distinguished Teaching Award. He has published over one hundred research papers and articles on marriage, family and counseling in a wide variety of journals and magazines. He is the founding editor of Marriage and Family: A Christian Journal and sits on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Family Therapy, the Journal of Psychology and Theology and the Journal of Psychology and Christianity. He is also a speaker in wide demand and the author of a dozen books, including Marriage Conflicts (Baker) and Marriage Counseling (IVP).