What do you think?
Rate this book
Helps for Counselors: A mini-manual for Christian Counseling
A quick reference guide of helpful hints and how-tos, covering all aspects of counseling, from common problems to procedure.
- GenresCounselling
64 pages, Paperback
First published November 30, 1979
38 people are currently reading
104 people want to read
About the author
Jay E. Adams
230 books148 followersJay Edward Adams is a Reformed Christian author. He has written over 100 books and these have been published in sixteen languages.
He received a Bachelor of Divinity from Reformed Episcopal Seminary, a Bachelor of Arts in Classics from Johns Hopkins University,a Masters in Sacred Theology from Temple University, and a PhD in Speech from the University of Missouri.
Adams' book Competent to Counsel launched the nouthetic counseling movement, a movement whose aim was to use strictly biblical counseling methods. He is the founder of the Intitute for Nothetic Studies.
He received a Bachelor of Divinity from Reformed Episcopal Seminary, a Bachelor of Arts in Classics from Johns Hopkins University,a Masters in Sacred Theology from Temple University, and a PhD in Speech from the University of Missouri.
Adams' book Competent to Counsel launched the nouthetic counseling movement, a movement whose aim was to use strictly biblical counseling methods. He is the founder of the Intitute for Nothetic Studies.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 7, 2022
If you are biblical counselor, buy this. This tiny book is invaluable for your counseling ministry. 10/5 stars!
January 16, 2024
A great mini book to help the Christian Counselor in counseling. This quick reference guide can help many counselor remembers and learn the steps and skills of Counseling.
June 1, 2017
Brilliant basics
5 out of 5 for the way the basics are laid out clearly and succinctly. We can often beat about the bush when counselling and not get to the heart of the problems of the counsellee. This little book changes that. It IS a manual so no one is in any doubt. A manual is a handy tool for counselling sessions and allows one to focus on what is necessary in order to achieve the required outcome- healing. The Scriptures are to the fore throughout and Christ is central as a result. I don't think you will find a better manual than this. If you find it a little systematic then a manual is not what you're looking for .
5 out of 5 for the way the basics are laid out clearly and succinctly. We can often beat about the bush when counselling and not get to the heart of the problems of the counsellee. This little book changes that. It IS a manual so no one is in any doubt. A manual is a handy tool for counselling sessions and allows one to focus on what is necessary in order to achieve the required outcome- healing. The Scriptures are to the fore throughout and Christ is central as a result. I don't think you will find a better manual than this. If you find it a little systematic then a manual is not what you're looking for .
August 22, 2024
A HELPFUL BRIEF COMPENDIUM OF ADAMS' PRINCIPLES
Dr. Jay Adams has written other books such as 'Competent to Counsel,' 'The Christian Counselor's Manual,' 'The Biblical View of Self-Esteem,' 'Self-Love, and Self-Image,' 'What about nouthetic counseling: A question and answer book,' 'Coping with counseling crises,' 'Essays on Counseling,' etc.
He wrote in the Preface to this 1980 booklet, "[This booklet] originally was included as part of The Christian Counselor's New Testament. It was designed to be used as a handy reference guide before, after, and during counseling sessions. This mini-manual presupposes a knowledge of the form of biblical counseling that I set forth in [other] books... Much of the material in this mini-manual is immediately intelligible even without that knowledge, but it will be used most effectively in conjunction with the above-mentioned volumes. The helps in the mini-manual are intended to be used in preparation for counseling to stimulate planning and review of progress, to help locate significant passages during a counseling session, and to help discover causes of failure. Although they were not designed as study guides, many have found them helpful for such purposes." (Pg. 3)
He suggests, "There is much information about the value and the place of listening in counseling. While listening is a vital aspect of counseling, remember that it is only one aspect. It must never be equated with counseling as if it were the all-in-all or even the most important aspect of the work. Listening in ONE essential means to the counselor's ends." (Pg. 18)
He summarizes his "Sexual Principles," indicating that "The following list of principles largely grows out of an exposition of 1 Corinthians 7:1-6." They are: "Sexual relations within marriage are holy and good...Pleasure in sexual relations... is not forbidden... Sexual pleasure is to be regulated by the key principle that one's sexuality does not exist for himself ... but for his partner... Sexual relations are to be regular and continuous... The principle of mutual satisfaction... there is to be no sexual bargaining... Sexual relationships are equal and reciprocal..." (Pg. 44-45)
Adams' principles are indeed found in his other books, but the brevity and succinctness of this booklet make it exceptionally useful.
Dr. Jay Adams has written other books such as 'Competent to Counsel,' 'The Christian Counselor's Manual,' 'The Biblical View of Self-Esteem,' 'Self-Love, and Self-Image,' 'What about nouthetic counseling: A question and answer book,' 'Coping with counseling crises,' 'Essays on Counseling,' etc.
He wrote in the Preface to this 1980 booklet, "[This booklet] originally was included as part of The Christian Counselor's New Testament. It was designed to be used as a handy reference guide before, after, and during counseling sessions. This mini-manual presupposes a knowledge of the form of biblical counseling that I set forth in [other] books... Much of the material in this mini-manual is immediately intelligible even without that knowledge, but it will be used most effectively in conjunction with the above-mentioned volumes. The helps in the mini-manual are intended to be used in preparation for counseling to stimulate planning and review of progress, to help locate significant passages during a counseling session, and to help discover causes of failure. Although they were not designed as study guides, many have found them helpful for such purposes." (Pg. 3)
He suggests, "There is much information about the value and the place of listening in counseling. While listening is a vital aspect of counseling, remember that it is only one aspect. It must never be equated with counseling as if it were the all-in-all or even the most important aspect of the work. Listening in ONE essential means to the counselor's ends." (Pg. 18)
He summarizes his "Sexual Principles," indicating that "The following list of principles largely grows out of an exposition of 1 Corinthians 7:1-6." They are: "Sexual relations within marriage are holy and good...Pleasure in sexual relations... is not forbidden... Sexual pleasure is to be regulated by the key principle that one's sexuality does not exist for himself ... but for his partner... Sexual relations are to be regular and continuous... The principle of mutual satisfaction... there is to be no sexual bargaining... Sexual relationships are equal and reciprocal..." (Pg. 44-45)
Adams' principles are indeed found in his other books, but the brevity and succinctness of this booklet make it exceptionally useful.
August 18, 2017
Adam's gives us a condensed version of the method of Biblical Counseling, this is a very helpful resources for Christian counselors.
May 23, 2019
Good compilation of key helps from a variety of Adam's books. Most of this is also found in Adam's New Testament appendix.
November 12, 2021
As someone who really wants to be a biblical counselor this was an amazing and super informative book, it was a short read but so filled with information. I completely recommend it
September 28, 2022
Technique?
The Scripture references were nice on the varied topics but this did not read like it was coming from a licensed counselor at all.
The Scripture references were nice on the varied topics but this did not read like it was coming from a licensed counselor at all.
May 30, 2024
great resource for counselors
This helpful manual will come in handy as a quick reference and resource for any counselor. I would recommend keeping it close by until memorized.
This helpful manual will come in handy as a quick reference and resource for any counselor. I would recommend keeping it close by until memorized.
November 6, 2025
Amazing tool
April 28, 2016
IMO this would be more helpful in the print version so that you could add your own notes and quickly refer to the indexes and charts, which were difficult to read in the Kindle version. I found the latter potion of the book to be most helpful for lay counseling and will likely use this as a reference in the future.
August 9, 2018
I'm not sure I would use every question asked, some of them seemed overly combative for a depressed person as a for instance. But this contained largely helpful outlines of problems requiring therapy complete with scriptural support.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews