Neukrug Publishes New Counseling Texts, Launches ‘Great Therapists’ Website
March 22, 2013
From his book publishing to the recent launch of his "Great Therapists" website, it has been a productive couple of years for Old Dominion's Ed Neukrug.
Neukrug, University Professor of counseling and human services in the Darden College of Education, recently published his eighth book, "A Brief Orientation to Counseling: Professional Identity, History, and Standards" (Cengage, 2014), as well as the fourth edition of his popular book, "The World of the Counselor" (Cengage, 2013).
"A Brief Orientation to Counseling" provides the unique knowledge and skills needed to begin the journey toward building an identity as a professional counselor. Neukrug clearly and concisely addresses the eight identified areas in the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs' accreditation standards, thus reinforcing that which will form the foundation for success in practice. Along the way, he provides proven, real-world advice that will help readers prepare for a career in the helping professions.
The book highlights those aspects of the counseling field most important in developing a counseling perspective and in building an affiliation with the field. It concludes with an afterword: "Applying to Graduate School and Finding A Job."
In the latest edition of "The World of the Counselor" (2012), Neukrug gives readers an unparalleled look at the practicalities of the counseling profession. Thorough and research-based, this text presents the key concepts and material about the counseling profession with great clarity and insight, while keeping readers involved through many illustrative case examples and personal narratives. Salient topics such as specializations within counseling, finding a counseling job and future trends in counseling are included.
The text presents an overview of the counseling profession by offering relevant content, vignettes and think pieces for students to ponder. The book loosely follows the common-core curriculum guidelines of the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs. The text also offers specific content in the specialty areas of clinical mental health counseling, school counseling, and student affairs and college counseling. An extensive workbook, "Experiencing the World of the Counselor," offers a wide variety of experiential exercises that parallel the content in the book.
Neukrug also recently published the fifth edition of his well-known book, "Theory, Practice, and Trends in Human Services" (Cengage, 2013). The book offers a broad survey of the field of human services.
In addition to his publishing, Neukrug has developed the "Great Therapists of the Twentieth Century" (GTTC) website, which recently became available online.
The GTTC website is an interactive animated site that allows visitors to gain in-depth knowledge about 17 famous therapists and the conceptual schools they represent. These include: Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler and Carl Jung from the psychodynamic school; Carl Rogers, Viktor Frankl and Fritz Perls from the existential-humanistic school; B.F. Skinner, Albert Ellis, Aaron Beck and William Glasser from the cognitive-behavioral school; Michael White, Steve de Shazer, Insoo Kim Berg and Jean Baker-Miller from the post-modern and feminist school; and Virginia Satir, Jay Haley and Salvador Minuchin from the systems school.
Visitors to the website are first introduced to the five schools in which the different therapists can be found. After hearing a short description of the schools, they can choose to enter one of the schools and "meet" the therapists in that school. After the visitor clicks on the door of a therapist, he or she will be taken into the office and "meet" an animated version of the therapist. In addition, in the office the visitor will have the opportunity to: (1) read a biography of the therapist, (2) view videos about the therapist, (3) hear oral stories about the therapist, (4) learn about personal correspondences of the therapist, (5) participate in a Wiki about the therapist, (6) participate in a discussion room and (7) find links to other sites about the therapist. Visitors will also be able to answer a set of questions that will help them assess their view of human nature.
The website, which is still being built, can be accessed at http://ww2.odu.edu/~eneukrug/gttc/ or through Neukrug's home page: www.odu.edu/~eneukrug (click on "Meet the Therapists"). It can be viewed on a tablet, a Mac or via a Safari browser downloaded on a PC.
Neukrug is now working as the general editor of the Encyclopedia of Theory in Counseling and Psychotherapy, whose two-volume work should be published in 2014. In addition to his teaching and scholarship, Neukrug has worked as a counselor at a crisis center, an outpatient therapist at a mental health center, an associate school psychologist, a school counselor, and as a private practice psychologist and licensed professional counselor.