I wish I could have had a book like this 20 years ago when I first began to practice counseling.  The authors and their associates are all counseling clinicians who are also part of the faculty of Palm Beach Atlantic University, and have crafted a book that shines for use among counseling students, newer therapists, and pastors, but may not be of much interest to more experienced practitioners.  As an experienced general practice Christian counselor, I found little in this text that I didn’t already know and practice.  I have previously found handouts and activities, or developed my own, for most of the patient issues addressed in the Notebook. 

 

But when I was first beginning practice I would have jumped to buy this book, because it fills a need for the novice counselor.  It covers a wide variety of issues most therapists encounter working with individuals, couples and families, and children and adolescents (the three sections of the book), and provides specific treatment activities for each issue along with detailed rationales for use and step-by-step instructions for use of the resource.  A handout for each activity is ready for photocopy, but the real usefulness of the book is in its therapeutic guidance in how to use the handout.

 

The Notebook is an anthology of homework, handouts, and activities, as the subtitle correctly states, that address client spirituality and salvation, grief and loss, dealing with temptation, relationship issues, anxiety and mood disorders, blending families, parenting, child sex abuse, self-esteem, and about 20 other topics, for a total of 40 in all.  Each resource/activity is presented in the same helpful format that includes the following sections: 

1. Title and authors

2. Guiding scripture

3. Type of Contribution (e.g., exercise, handout)

4. Objective of the resource

5. Rationale for use

6. Clear and specific instructions for application

7. A vignette that illustrates the application

8. Suggestions for follow-up

9. Contraindications

10.  Bibliographic resources for professionals

11.  Bibliographic resources for clients

12.  Related scriptures

13.  Handout for photocopying or scanning

Perusing the first page and handout of each exercise makes it easy to choose compare and choose resources.

 

A complete index closes the book that is more helpful than the table of contents, which includes no descriptive material about the applicability of each resource.  The only way to really know what’s available is to skim through the whole text.  I would have appreciated an expanded table of contents that summarized each resource.

 

Taken as a whole, the Notebook makes a great text for use in courses on counseling practice because it provides 40 illustrations of the application of different techniques and approaches that a student can immediately use.  It might make a good lab workbook for classroom or real-world practice.  And it is a useful resource for less experienced clinicians who are still looking for ways to help their clients.  Pastors, who typically receive little, if any counseling training in school, will find this book especially useful in teaching ways to approach the issues they encounter, and helping them discern what work is not in their purview of expertise.

 

--Review by Mark Gardner, M.Min., a Christian Life Coach who specializes in helping people and churches experience The Extraordinary Life God promises us.  Learn more and contact him at http://www.gardnercoaching.com/