Although all services through
the SELP-HELP RESOURCE CENTER are through volunteers and free of any charge,
people using the services are referred to as clients to help maintain a
professional relationship.
Clients who want bibliotherapy coaching
select a book from the list so the subject and approach is the best fit for
their situation. A client is then connected with a volunteer who has read the
same book or agrees to read the book along with the client.
By telephone
the client and coach discuss concepts in the book as they apply to the client’s
life. These telephone discussions occur according to a set schedule, usually one
to four weeks, and lasting no more than an hour.
The focus during the
phone conversations should be on what the client is feeling, thinking and doing
in his or her life and how this relates to the book they have chosen. Discussing
what other people in the client’s life are doing should be kept to a minimum and
used only as a basis for how to implement the book’s concepts as they apply to
the client.
Likewise, discussion about a client’s past should not be
focused on, but used as a reference in using the book’s concepts as tools for
the future.
In-person meetings, unscheduled telephone calls, and calls
longer than one hour are discouraged. This service is not intended to serve as a
"Crisis Line" or as mental-health counseling.
