Amazon.ca:Customer reviews: Solution-Focused Pastoral Counseling: An Effective Short-Term Approach for Getting People Back on Track
Skip to main content
.ca
Hello Select your address
All
Select the department you want to search in
Hello, Sign in
Account & Lists
Returns & Orders
Cart
All
Best Sellers Deals Store New Releases Customer Service Sell Prime Electronics Fashion Home Books Sports & Outdoors Toys & Games Health & Household Pet Supplies Kindle Books Computers Coupons Gift Cards Computer & Video Games Gift Ideas Grocery Beauty & Personal Care Automotive Home Improvement Baby Audible Registry Subscribe & save
New Deals Everyday
Today's Deals Watched Deals Outlet Deals Warehouse Deals Coupons eBook Deals Subscribe & Save

  • Solution-Focused Pastoral Counseling: An Effective Short-Term Approach...
  • ›
  • Customer reviews

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
242 global ratings
5 star
83%
4 star
8%
3 star
6%
2 star
2%
1 star
2%
Solution-Focused Pastoral Counseling: An Effective Short-Term Approach for Getting People Back on Track

Solution-Focused Pastoral Counseling: An Effective Short-Term Approach for Getting People Back on Track

byCharles Allen Kollar
Write a review
How are ratings calculated?
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness.
See All Buying Options

Search
Sort by
Top reviews
Filter by
All reviewers
All stars
Text, image, video
242 total ratings, 54 with reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From Canada

Hannah
3.0 out of 5 stars Be Discerning
Reviewed in Canada on April 3, 2014
Verified Purchase
This book was required for my course on counselling theory and skill development. The method is very useful for those with little training in counselling who are working with adults and who know when to refer. Many of Kollar's personal opinions, however, need to be taken with a grain of salt. My advice is to read the book, take the major principles to integrate into your practice, and think critically about the rest.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
Report abuse
    Showing 0 comments

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.


Jackie Scrivanich
5.0 out of 5 stars Great resource
Reviewed in Canada on September 30, 2016
Verified Purchase
As a pastor counseling is a part of the job. This book is a great resource for that.
Helpful
Report abuse
    Showing 0 comments

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.


Demetrius
1.0 out of 5 stars Koller's outlook spoils the book
Reviewed in Canada on March 4, 2015
Koller presents a negative view on the mental health industry.

With only a one sided view on the journey to recovery, Kollar presents a method that could be useful, but misses the mark. He starts off his book by criticizing the mental health industry and why pastors need to take back counseling. He himself admits to creating a dichotomy that others in the church profess. He assumes that the mental health industry is out to make money and isn't shy in presenting that, almost as a fact.

The book is riddled with his own personal opinions that detract from the method. This makes the reader have to wade through what is factual or just an opinion.

This book is presented as a means for pastors to take back counseling. While there is nothing wrong with Pastors counseling. This isn't the way to do so. Proper training is perhaps needed for the way in which a pastor can effectively council someone and maybe a new outlook that encourages the pastors not to just refer, but work with the mental health industry.
Helpful
Report abuse
    Showing 0 comments

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.


From other countries

MKennedy
5.0 out of 5 stars Confidence and Authority for the Pastoral Counselor
Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2012
Verified Purchase
Kollar's book empowers the local church pastor to lead counselees into positive change without carrying the burden of being something other than an expert in psychology. He presents the argument that pastors have been trained to refer far too many cases to secular mental health agencies and professionals when these same pastors have the tools they need to help get the people who come to them "unstuck" and moving forward in a positive way. Kollar gives a practical model for pastors to use to achieve this goal.

Kollar's book is an application of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), a therapy that has been proven by secular research to be at least as successful as other methods of therapy. I recommend doing some research on SFBT and reading Strategic Pastoral Counseling: A Short-Term Structured Model by David G. Benner, Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Spirituality at Psychological Studies Institute, Richmond Graduate University (Atlanta).

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy is a method of therapy developed by Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg at the Milwaukee Brief Therapy Center which they founded in 1978. Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) purposely does not focus on the cause of a problem. In fact, one of the method's underlying assumptions is that a counselor or therapist does not necessarily need to know much at all about a person's problem to help them. This seems counterintuitive, but Kollar makes the argument that many other psychologists have been making for the last 30 years that focusing on a person's illness is a carryover from medical practices grounded more in medical culture than in research. See Trepper, Terry S., Eric E. McCollum, Peter De Jong, Harry Korman, Wallace Gingerich, and Cynthia Franklin. 2010. Solution focused therapy treatment manual for working with individuals. [Hammond, IN?]: Research Committee of the Solution Focused Brief Therapy Association. [...]

For an academic overview of the effectiveness of SFBT read "Solution-Focused Brief Therapy" by Cynthia Franklin, Terry S. Trepper, Eric E. McCollum, and Wallace J. Gingerich (2011). For a good brief overview of SFBT, read Gail R. Greenberg, Keren Ganshorn and Alanna Danilkewic's 2001 article "Solution-focused therapy; A counseling model for busy family physicians" in Canadian Family Physician, 47 (November): 2289-2295. [...]
5 people found this helpful
Report abuse
pixledust
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!
Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2017
Verified Purchase
This is an excellent book. It offers real hope to those seeking solutions to their problems. It is written for a Christian audience, but has wisdom for all audiences. It details the problems with traditional counseling models and then sets forth a short-term solution based model that will allow the client to see progress in the first session. The books basic premise is that the client should be setting the counseling goals and is an expert on his/her own life. It shows the counselor how to be attuned to the things the Holy Spirit is already doing in the clients life. It gives practical strategies to point out, support and affirm the clients in their efforts to create and clarify solutions. This is one of the best counseling books I've ever read.
3 people found this helpful
Report abuse
William T. Brewer
5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling approach to counseling that gains its power from some rather simple, well-known principles
Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2006
Verified Purchase
SFPC is a compelling approach to counseling that gains its power from some rather simple, well-known principles --

. . . the power of positive thinking and the power of suggestion.

Without wanting to be dismissive, I think much of what Kollar does is to simply "operationalize" those principles with a counseling model and some associated practical techniques for asking the right questions. Admittedly, he teaches people to count their blessings, but he does so in a way that keeps them from dismissing that too-familiar idea as simply cliche.

In meantime, Kollar offers wide-ranging insights that church counselors should find helpful regardless of approach. Kollar is right, for example, in being concerned about the "rent seeking"[1] nature of the secular mental health industry, where economic incentives favor the need for more and more mental health services rather than the health of clients. So he is right in being cautious about referring Christians into that industry -- an industry concerned, not with the healing of the biblical mind, but with the "healing" of the secular mind -- a mind so intrinsically unsound from a biblical perspective that it's restoration to "soundness" is inherently problematic -- hence the fundamental awkwardness of referring Christians to secular counselors where definitions of failure and success often run counter to Christian values.[2]

Kollar is right in suggesting that complex problems don't necessarily require complex solutions. He is right in challenging the scientific basis for the "disease" categories listed in the APA's DSM-4.[3] He is right in insisting on the profound implications of approaching counseling from the standpoint of solutions rather than problems. And he is right on letting the outcome (health) dictate the process (solution-oriented).

For Kollar, the "deficiency language" of problem-centered approaches is the root of all evil. For counselees, it fosters negative self-perceptions, preoccupation with self, self-fulfilling prophecies, reliance on drugs, frustration, resistance and blindness to solutions, and misplaced trust in experts. Hard data exist to support the relative lack of success for the mental health profession. Experts on mental disorders can easily guide counselees toward solutions that have nothing to do with the reasons counselees seek counseling. The mental health industry tends to transform problems into mental diseases and then give those diseases weight via psychological labeling. Counselees eventually come defend such labeling as part of their identity.

For counselors, "deficiency language" fosters marketing abuses, conflicts of interest, misdiagnoses, an exaggerated sense of competence, over-prescription of drugs, needless investigations into past experiences,[4] preoccupation with defining the problem rather than the solution, reliance on the expertise of the counselor rather than the counselee, and blindness to solutions. Counselors tend to find what they have been trained to spot; i.e., problems or deficiencies.[5] Instead of fixing problems, problem-oriented counselors often simply sensitize counselees to imputed problems, thereby deepening the sense of deficiency within counselees. Deficiency language neglects the resources counselees bring to counseling sessions -- the very things most correlated with success and least-correlated with a problem-centered approach.

Differences between pastoral and secular counseling are wide-ranging. Pastoral counseling focuses on the cognitive side of counseling -- secular counseling focuses on the affective. The cognitive approach has weight, however, in that the connection of emotional dysfunctions with diseases of the brain has not been established. Rather emotions are best seen as signs that counselees are off track. Secular counseling provides "homework" in the pursuit of counselor-defined solutions. SFPC focuses on tasks in the pursuit of counselee-defined solutions. The secular psychotherapeutic concept of resistance has more to do with power and control within counseling relationships than with the unwillingness of counselees to change. In SFPC, resistance is sidestepped in that counselors and counselees "co-create" solutions.

Practical advice abounds in SFPC. Concentrate on what's working and do more of it. Identify what's not working and do less. In counseling, clearly defining the problem is not necessary. Many problems cannot be clearly defined, but that does not mean they cannot be solved. Counselees are the experts on what needs to be changed. They are often simply stuck in their perception of things and need help in changing their perceptions. They need a vision of how life would be like without the problem. How that change will occur is more important than when it will occur. Emphasis on feelings vice doing needs to be turned upside down -- it takes less effort for people to "act" themselves toward a feeling that to "feel" themselves toward an action. Pastors often make bad counselors because they are accustomed to prescribing thoughts and behaviors instead of practicing attentive listening. Counselees may be adept at using deficiency language and inept at seeing exceptions to their deficiencies, so knowing what to ignore and what to attend to in counseling are important aptitudes for counselors. Everyone needs a second chance without the risk of being entangled in the mental health industry.

SFPC is an excellent book. Although it neglects the necessary, tragic, and redemptive significances of suffering, its focus is well-aimed because most of the misery within Western culture is, after all, self-inflicted.

-- Bill Brewer
[...]

[1] These are my words, not Kollar's. "Rent-seeking" means the pursuit of gain through a non-beneficial relationship in contrast to "profit seeking" where the gain is through beneficial relationships. The mental health industry is frequently accused of rent-seeking in offering services that, in turn, increase the need for such services.

[2] An almost comical example is the "medicalization" of misbehaving children under "Oppositional Defiant Disorder" in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition. Also note the devastating critique of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) as an ideologically driven association by APA past-president Nicholas A. Cummings at [...]

[3] Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, by the American Psychiatric Association.

[4] The only reason to look into the past of a counselee is to help him get back on track.

[5] Kollar notes an experiment by Rosenhan, Stanford professor of psychology and law, who experimented with psychiatric hospitals by presenting them with healthy people who were hearing voices. Each was diagnosed as schizophrenic despite having normal mental states.

From the back cover, Charles Allen Kollar is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. He served as a United States Navy chaplain for ten years and is currently the director of On-Trac Ministries. He holds the D.Min. from Fuller Theological Seminary and the M.Div. from the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary.

Solution-Focused Pastoral Counseling (SFPC) is divided into two parts: theory and practice. Part 1 has eight chapters. Chapter 1 addresses the way paradigms reinforce old ways of thinking and prevent new ways of looking at things, not just for counselees, but for counselors as well. Chapter 2 deals with the relationship between pastoral counseling and the secular mental health industry. Chapter 3 highlights the prominence of "deficiency language" in secular counseling and in most Christian counseling. Chapter 4 is concerned with the way presuppositions shape counseling toward a problem-focused approach. Chapter 5 explains the real consequences of perceptions and misperceptions. Chapter 6 challenges secular notions of identity formation with an explicitly Christian alternative. Chapter 7 identifies nine guiding assumptions for SFPC. Chapter 8 offers seven guidelines for ethical counseling.

Part 2 combines an explanation of Kollar's counseling model with examples of its application. Chapter 9 focuses on the counseling interview. Chapter 10 explores the role of attentive listening. Chapter 11 overviews the "track options" a counseling interview could possibly take. Chapter 12 addresses the task of "vision clarification." Chapters 13 and 14 give examples of the "how to's" and the "whys" of "supportive feedback" and "consolidating change." Chapter 15 applies SFPC to a typical case. Chapter 16 offers some final considerations.
3 people found this helpful
Report abuse
Kyle Nielsen
5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful
Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2021
Verified Purchase
Kollar did an excellent job explaining a short-term model in the context of a Pastoral counseling relationship. This book has practical steps for the beginner to learn and begin to wrap their head around. This is a must read for the lay counselor who is thinking about counseling.
One person found this helpful
Report abuse
TAL South Africa
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent tool for solution-based counseling
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2020
Verified Purchase
Of all the books in my counseling course, this was the most useful (and used) by me for papers and counseling scenarios. I have already put the methods into practice in real-life counseling situations (especially how to ask the right questions), too, and found them to work!
One person found this helpful
Report abuse
Michael G. Kelly, D.Min., Th.M., M.B.A.
4.0 out of 5 stars Can-do counseling for the novice ...
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2013
Verified Purchase
Solution-Focused Pastoral Counseling offers the busy pastor a practical and productive method for effectively addressing the lion's share of counseling requests encountered in full-time ministry. With increased expectations upon the typical pastor as well as the growing tendencies toward specialization in ministry, counseling needs are more and more becoming relegated to the "professionals" in order to safeguard resources for what is perceived as "real" ministry. In the pastor's defense, the time-consuming components of counseling, not to mention the accompanying emotional drain is difficult to justify, given the oft poor results realized. Nonetheless, the author offers a workable program that is reasonable and effective for the greatest of skeptics in ministry. The program is built upon the assumption that the pastor is not necessarily bringing particular learned skills to those in need, but takes advantage of what God is already doing in the lives of the counselee. This principle alone offers a great sense of relief for those of us who feel inadequate to cope with the complexities of counseling. At the same time, liberty is given to refer those who face complex borderline issues to alternate professional resources.
The primary area of focus in counseling is pivotal in the methodology offered. It is common in most models to focus upon the problem at hand, identified as a problem-focused paradigm. Kollar argues that focusing on the problem does not necessarily benefit the client but runs the risk of further validating the issue and unfairly contributing greater weight to what may be an insignificant matter altogether. Kollar argues that these "individual paradigms" are frequently self-imposed circumstances that blind the counselee to alternative approaches for reconciliation. Rather, his approach is built upon a solutions-focused concept that essentially encourages the counselee to dream about the desired outcome. This particular process is viewed as "Imagineering" wherein the details of the desired future are articulated by the counselee with the hopes of developing specific achievable goals along the way. He argues, "The [desired] outcome dictates the process, rather than the process dictating the outcome." Again, the operational assumption is that the counselee has all the resources needed in God. A series of questions are strategically utilized in order to get at the root issue and bring about the oft self-imposed blockades that will need to be addressed in the course of counseling.
As expected the critical area of identity comes into full view as the counselee attempts to redefine a norm for living the desired life. In distinctively Christian counseling, it is imperative that the program point back to the Divine Creator and His creation as vice-regents. In doing so, we acknowledge that our unique personalities are significantly impacted by "the fall" and the resultant sin has categorically overtaken life in the garden once perfectly enjoyed. As we enter into a loving and dynamic relationship with God, through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, the opportunity for reconciliation is available to those willing to undergo what we understand theologically as the sanctification process. This lifelong pursuit is daily and incremental in nature enabled by the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. All things are new and abundant redeeming grace becomes a common ingredient for successful Christian living in the jungle of the 21st century. It is critical for each of us to realize that we live in a natural state of becoming, but we will never fully realize absolute or final sanctification until we see Jesus and become like Him. This is an important reminder for us in what becomes a mandate for grace-laden attitudes toward self and others. We are being formed. What we believe we become. The Word of God discovered in the Bible offers a tremendous account of mankind's developing relationship with a loving God through the millennia. The pages are replete with ageless patterns of human failure and God's faithful demonstration of unmerited grace.
Kollar speaks into the profession of the pastorate through a practical delineation between tasks. He argues that preaching is necessary to "persuade the listener to receive the purpose and plan of God." He further addresses Christian education as teaching the "application" of such truths. Fellowship is seen as instrumental in developing relationships of "... encouragement, mutual sharing and strengthening." Then he suggests that counseling is an opportunity to, "...cocreate between the Spirit, counselor, and counselee," in a solutions-focused dialogue. In other words, it simply isn't enough to preach and teach from afar without opportunity to engage in authentic community to fully realize life-change opportunities within the church. This further reinforces the need for small groups within the local fellowship where relationships of accountability are being formed as part and parcel of the sanctification process. It is becoming ever more apparent that much of what is lacking in the modern-day church can be found within the auspices of a dynamic small group.
Overall, I have been encouraged to re-engage in the ministry of counseling and have since utilized this helpful method with marked success. This is a straightforward approach that recognizes God is at work and we are merely instruments that facilitate the process, rather than taking-on unrealistic expectations and unhealthy levels of ownership in the process.
8 people found this helpful
Report abuse
Naomi F. Chavez
2.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps, if you are already a pastor/minister or counselor ...
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2014
Verified Purchase
Perhaps, if you are already a pastor/minister or counselor the readings may be advantageous. However, if not, it provides experiences and formats that may or may not be utilized. This was a required text for a Pastoral Counseling course at Liberty. It is not a text that I would have chosen for myself. Engagement as a nurse case manager is on a different scale.
2 people found this helpful
Report abuse
  • ←Previous page
  • Next page→

Need customer service? Click here
‹ See all details for Solution-Focused Pastoral Counseling: An Effective Short-Term Approach...

Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations
›
View or edit your browsing history
After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages that interest you.

Back to top
Get to Know Us
  • Careers
  • Amazon and Our Planet
  • Investor Relations
  • Press Releases
  • Amazon Science
Make Money with Us
  • Sell on Amazon
  • Amazon Associates
  • Sell on Amazon Handmade
  • Advertise Your Products
  • Independently Publish with Us
  • Host an Amazon Hub
Amazon Payment Products
  • Amazon.ca Rewards Mastercard
  • Shop with Points
  • Reload Your Balance
  • Amazon Currency Converter
  • Gift Cards
  • Amazon Cash
Let Us Help You
  • COVID-19 and Amazon
  • Shipping Rates & Policies
  • Amazon Prime
  • Returns Are Easy
  • Manage your Content and Devices
  • Customer Service
EnglishChoose a language for shopping.
CanadaChoose a country/region for shopping.
Amazon Music
Stream millions
of songs
Amazon Advertising
Find, attract, and
engage customers
Amazon Business
Everything for
your business
Amazon Drive
Cloud storage
from Amazon
Amazon Web Services
Scalable Cloud
Computing Services
 
Book Depository
Books With Free
Delivery Worldwide
Goodreads
Book reviews
& recommendations
IMDb
Movies, TV
& Celebrities
Amazon Photos
Unlimited Photo Storage
Free With Prime
Shopbop
Designer
Fashion Brands
 
Warehouse Deals
Open-Box
Discounts
Whole Foods Market
We Believe in
Real Food
Amazon Renewed
Like-new products
you can trust
Blink
Smart Security
for Every Home
 
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Notice
  • Interest-Based Ads
© 1996-2022, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates