A personal need to create a student-centered introduction to therapeutic counseling gave rise to this text. Emphasized throughout the text is the belief that counselor education and training should be integrative and pragmatic. Chapters are organized into four main parts: (1) The Professional Counselor; (2) Counseling Antecedents and Approaches; (3) Applications of Counseling; and (4) Professional Practice. Chapters titles are as follows: (1) Therapeutic Counseling: What It Is and How It Works; (2) Historical and Conceptual Foundations of Counseling; (3) Settings for Therapeutic Counseling; (4) The Therapeutic Relationship; (5) Insight-Oriented Counseling Approaches; (6) Action-Oriented Counseling Approaches; (7) Developing a Personal Style; (8) Assessment, Testing, and the Diagnostic Process; (9) Group Counseling; (10) Marital, Family, and Sex Counseling; (11) Career Counseling; (12) Drug and Alcohol Counseling; (13) Counseling Special Populations; (14) Research and Practice; (15) Ethical and Legal Issues; and (16) Toward Closure. Three appendices present Ethical Standards of the American Counseling Association, Ethical Principles of Psychologists of the American Psychological Association, and the Code of Ethics of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. Contains approximately 700 references, and an index. (RJM)