"This book is unique in five ways. First, it is based on lessons learned through years of practice and supervision. I have tried to infuse what I learned from my clients, students, and teachers about the practical aspects of helping. For example, we will talk about what a therapeutic office environment should look like and how to appropriately terminate a client. My work with students has helped me understand the common problems in learning the art of helping and how to overcome them. Second, the most important innovation of this book is that it involves you personally in your learning. Throughout the book you are asked to "Stop and Reflect," to consider thorny issues and challenges that you will face. If you wish, you can journal using Journal Starters or do outside homework to deepen your interaction with the material. In addition, you will have the opportunity to practice on your own by watching videos of helpers and clients and then identify the best helping responses. Every chapter contains Application Exercises in which you can follow the steps of a particular technique and get feedback on your answers. Third, this book emphasizes that the relationship between helper and client is the most powerful ingredient for success. The relationship (vitamin R) potentiates all the basic techniques that you will learn. If you and the client are on the same wavelength, progress is possible. When the relationship fails, the helping process falters. In this book, I talk about how to develop a therapeutic relationship and how to repair ruptures that threaten it. Fourth, I have tried to incorporate the latest research on effective treatments. Staying close to the research can be called "evidence-based practice." At the same time, we must recognize that there is such a thing as clinical wisdom or "practice-based evidence." Not every method, technique, or client problem has been researched or even discovered. Thus helpers-in-training need to learn from their clients about what is working for that specific person. I suggest that in every session, the helper should elicit feedback from the client about the relationship and progress toward goals. Finally, this is a book with an integrative perspective. That means that I have drawn from the techniques of many different theories rather than presenting a purely personcentered or cognitive behavioral approach. At first this may sound like chaos. How can we possibly learn to arrange treatment by blending so many competing theories? In this book, we do not blend theories but instead take a common factors approach to organizing the techniques using the REPLAN method. Common factors are those therapeutic effects that underlie the various theories. REPLAN is an acronym that describes each of the healing factors. R stands for establishing and maintaining a therapeutic Relationship, E is Enhancing efficacy and self-esteem, P means Practicing new behaviors, L is Lowering and raising emotional arousal, A is Activating expectations, hope, and motivation, and N is providing New learning experiences. Every theory emphasizes one or more of these common factors, and even advanced therapeutic techniques tend to fall into one of these categories. We have found that categorizing the techniques in this way provides a rational basis for deciding what kind of help the client needs. Is it more important to raise self-esteem or practice new behaviors? This forms the skeleton of our treatment plan and is guided by the goals that are collaboratively formed between helper and client. This approach can incorporate both time-honored methods and cutting-edge techniques"--