Friends, Colleagues, & Educators,

Fifty Steps Closer is a collection of fifty group counseling lessons and activities designed to address a wide variety of referral concerns and issues of school age boys and girls involved in the counseling process.  The book and related website materials are ideal for counselors, psychologists, and graduate students preparing for fieldwork placement in the areas of school counseling and psychology. 

Every lesson is written in the traditional counseling format which begins with “Purpose of Activity,” followed by “Group Size,” “Group Mix,” “Estimated Time,” “Materials Required,” and “Considerations.” However, it’s the “Student Reflection” section which really tells the story of how the lesson unfolds as experienced by students of various ages, abilities, and issues. There are also corresponding “Backpack Supplements” summarizing the lesson/activity which are sent home with the student and serves not only as a reminder of the lesson learned, but also helps keep parents generally informed of the counseling process their child is in.

Fifty Steps Closer is unique in that it’s written from the student’s perspective and attempts to be reflective of “how” sessions are actually experienced by a variety of students, one student at a time. From this standpoint, readers of Fifty Steps Closer will come to a greater understanding and appreciation of not only what the child may be experiencing in counseling, but also what the counselor is trying to do. This book delivers insight as well as instruction and is proving not only to be a great resource for counselors, but also a valuable instrument in learning, improving, and developing counselor effectiveness.

Whether you are new to the field of counseling, an intern, an experienced counselor, or simply someone curious abut the counseling process, check out Fifty Steps Closer. Click on the Table of Contents & Sample Chapters pages to see the table of contents and read the featured chapters or listen to an audio version! Don’t forget to look through the Backpack Downloads which supplement and reinforce the lessons and read what others have said about Fifty Steps Closer on the Reviews page. In the News and Notes sections, you'll not only be able to read about recent happenings with the book but you'll also be able to scan through conference materials and lesson plans. If you like what you see contact Dr. Nick at his email address nickminardi@fiftystepscloser.com for a professional discount or click on the Place Order linking to the publishers page and place your order. The book is also available through Barnes and Noble, Borders, Amazon, and other fine book distributors nation wide.

To find out more about Nick Minardi, go to The Author. If you want to contact Dr. Nick with a question, comment, or would like to submit a review just click Email Author.