Brief Counselling in Action (Norton Professional Books) [Hardcover]

As mental health clinicians, we are called upon to provide valuable services to a diversity of clients from a variety of circumstances. Brief/solution-focused therapy meets the demands of many clients in a changing world and changing healthcare terrain. Brief Counseling In Action, by John Littrell, provides a respectable forray into the cutting-edge solution-focused approach to psychotherapy. However, certain profound limitations left this reader with strong mixed feelings. In his introduction, Dr. Littrell readily points out the strengths of his book: Client-focused. Respect for the client is repeatedly emphasized and demonstrated by Dr. Littrell throughout the book. The idea (and fact) that many clients come to counseling to solve a specific problem and clearly do not want to wander from that focus is well-taken. Skill-enhancing. Frameworks, techniques, even specific phrases are copiously offered. Brief case examples illustrate the use of these skills throughout the book. Dr Littrell also provides welcome distillations of other innovative brief counseling techniques including the MRI method and Solution-focused Therapy. Entertaining, User Friendly and Engaging. The chapters of Brief Counseling in Action are short and well-written. He utilizes appealing case examples and personal stories, both of which keep the reader's interest. Dr. Littrell is a proponent of the liberal use of humor in counseling. Besides devoting an entire chapter to this topic, he sprinkles the text with his ample humor. New Ideas, Options, and Concepts. Ideas from the cutting edge of counseling and psychotherapy are presented in an attempt to help clients do something different than the actions which have kept them stuck in unsatisfying or destructive patterns. Particularly intriguing was a preliminary discussion of ways to broaden the usefulness of brief counseling to settings beyond counselors offices. Call To Action. Taking action is one of the major tenets of brief counseling. At the end of each chapter, Dr. Littrell provides ways for counselors to transfer ideas from his book to actual work with clients. Dr. Littrell's motivating style and presentation of intriguing concepts, have led to my trying out some of his ideas and techniques in my own practice. Identifying positively oriented goals have added a unique and impelling focus to my work with some clients. Understanding the Stages in the Journey of Change has reduced some of my power struggles with clients, enabling me to apply more appropriate (and timely) interventions--in a more understanding manner. Explicitly focusing on clients' strengths has elevated the tone of many sessions and impelled some clients towards finding and implementing their own unique solutions. This may be the most fitting affirmation of the success of Dr. Littrell's endeavor. Brief Counseling In Action is not without it's flaws. All of the case examples involve people chosen from his workshops and teaching experiences. One is left to wonder if his approach is applicable to people without the resources to progress to graduate school. Without case examples using less resourceful clients, I felt reluctant to more liberally try out these new approaches. Dr. Littrell provides a short discussion concerning when to change one's framework to longer-term approaches. He limits this list to the psychoses, severe mood disorders, eating disorders, and ADD. In most other instances, he advocates interrupting clients' (and counselors') forays into more dynamic approaches. He views these as wasting time. But one could hardly consider knowledge of one's mental functioning a waste of time. These include processes such as self-esteem, defense mechanisms, cognitive distortions, and the like. Dr. Littrell's approach would be tantamount to a heart patient with occluded arteries going to a doctor and receiving only a prescription for blood-thinners and nitro glycerin. What's left out is the doctor's knowledge of the healing and preventative aspects of food, exercise and stress. As experts, it would be unethical to neglect to offer our knowledge about psychological functioning to willing clients, particularly when this information could have considerable bearing on the client's presenting problem....and beyond. Dr. Littrell offers some research on 1 and 2 session courses of counseling to support his contention that brief works well, if not better. However, even the research he quotes (from the Brief Family Therapy Clinic, p.173) shows better results for clients seen 4 or more sessions vs. those seen for 3 or less. These results, combined with the large-scope Consumer Reports study done earlier this decade suggests that very brief counseling remains--until evidence is presented to the contrary--in the realm of "necessary" instead of "preferred". Finally, a faint "us vs. them" attitude can be detected throughout the book. I understand that competing theoretical perspectives leaves proponents feeling somewhat embattled. But I found this undertone unpleasant and unnecessary. This book will certainly have its usefulness. It is worth a read by any clinician wanting to become more familiar with solution-focused therapy. After all, the more tools we have in our knapsack, the better position we will be in to help the clients in our charge. Like all other books about framework and technique, the discerning clinician must place the information it offers in the appropriate perspective.

Littrell's book on Brief Counseling is in my opinion one of the best guides for using the brief counseling technique in a school or mental health setting. He gives precise case examples that are easily read and can be applied. I have taught workshops on BT and recommend this as a must have book to my students.

Where there is not an extended length of time to promote change in a person's life, the technique of brief counseling is invaluable. Although not written from a Biblical counseling perspective, it can readily be applied in a Christian setting.

Brief counseling is extremely useful for inner city ministry, where the opportunity to give long-term counseling is restricted and the necessity for quick change is present. Through a cooperative approach between the counselor and client, brief counseling limits dependency and empowers the client to replace faulty coping skills with healthy decision making. For results oriented counselors (like myself), it is a must read.