Tools for Hard Conversations in the Helping Professions: Practical Tools from Abstract Theories

Tools For Hard Conversations will help professionals who routinely have hard conversations in the course of their work. It is a guide for how to have these types of conversations, while avoiding the compassion-fatigue and burnout that often comes with these roles. It goes into depth about the philosophies, approaches and practical tools that enable workers to help people more effectively without sacrificing their own well-being. Often helping professionals, unduly influenced by the medical-model approach to mental health, which sees them as the expert who needs to fix their clients problems, are just looking for tangible tools to guide their practice and to help people find their own solutions. The co-authors have developed and road tested a conversational map that can assist workers to enable change with the people they work with, positioning each client as the expert of their own life. With the help of extensive case studies, Tools For Hard Conversations enables workers and clients to walk away stronger from each therapeutic conversation.