Counseling Children

Counseling Children presents a practical and evidence-based approach for working with children in a helping relationship. The authors focus on building a solid theoretical base as well as on translating classical and updated theories into practice. This easy-to-read guide includes useful strategies and case studies to provide students with a realistic look at the counseling field. It also presents a development approach to counseling that considers age and stage differences in counseling children, adolescents, and adults. To further prepare students for their careers, the ninth edition includes 2014 ACA ethical standards, best practice guidelines for typical and atypical children's problems, and fresh ideas that facilitate understanding of the world of the child. Expanded coverage of children who have special concerns and of family interventions provides readers with effective ways to deliver interventions across multiple settings.

New to this Edition

• COUNSELING CHILDREN incorporates the 2014 American Counseling Association ethical code, ensuring that readers have an up-to-date review of the standards of counseling practices.


• Counselors are encountering an increased prevalence in their practices of working with children with disabilities and special concerns. To prepare readers for dealing appropriately and effectively with these children, the ninth edition includes descriptions of diagnoses as well as best practice guidelines for children with emotional disturbances and challenging life situations such as homelessness, abuse, and deployed parents.

About the Authors

Donna A. Henderson

Donna A. Henderson is a professor and department chair of counseling at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She received her bachelor's degree in English from Meredith College, her master's degree from James Madison University, and her Ph.D. degree in counselor education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She is Past President of the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision and Chi Sigma Iota, the counseling honor society. She is a former teacher and counselor in grades 7 to 12, a licensed school counselor, and a licensed professional counselor. She holds memberships in the American Counseling Association and has been active in national, regional, and state counseling associations. Her research interests include counseling children, particularly in the school setting and counselor education concerns. She has co-authored books on school counseling and counselor preparation as well as written chapters on legal and ethical issues, developmental issues, creative arts and counseling, and other topics. Her articles have been published in The Journal of Counseling and Development, Counselor Education and Supervision, The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, Arts in Psychotherapy, Journal of Family Therapy, and Elementary School Guidance and Counseling.

Charles L. Thompson

Charles L. Thompson was a professor of counselor education in the Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling in the College of Education, Health, and Human Science at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in science education and educational psychology from the University of Tennessee and did his Ph.D. degree concentration in counselor education, developmental psychology, and counseling psychology at The Ohio State University where he held NDEA and Delta Theta Tau fellowships. Dr. Thompson was a teacher and counselor in grades 7 to 12. His research interests included reality therapy and solution-focused brief counseling. He received the American Mental Health Counselors Association's Counselor Educator of the Year Award and the American School Counselor Association's Writer of the Year Award. He co-authored or authored seven books and over 100 articles in journals, including the Journal of Counseling and Development, Professional School Counseling, Journal of Mental Health Counseling, Counselor Education and Supervision, Journal of Counseling Psychology, International Journal of Reality Therapy, and the International Journal for the Advancement of Counseling. He was editor of The Idea Exchange Section of the Elementary School Guidance and Counseling Journal from 1979 to 1997.