Author Website
Therapeutic Friendship.
This book began with the inspiration to share things that Chris has learned through training and experience as a psychotherapist that might help to enhance the friendships of others. As the book took form, it also included reflections from his own journey as a psychotherapy client and experience in important friendships in his own life.
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Order from Smyth & Helwys Publishing HERE.
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Description.
In today’s hyper-connected world, loneliness, depression, and anxiety are still on the rise. We’re craving deeper connections and meaningful relationships, but how do we cultivate them? Chris O’Rear, a seasoned clinical therapist and pastoral counselor, offers guidance and hope.
Drawing from thirty years of experience and his own personal journey, Chris shares practical wisdom on building stronger relationships, navigating conflicts, and supporting loved ones through tough times. His compassionate and expert approach will help you develop a deeper understanding of yourself and others, nurture more fulfilling connections, and find resilience in the face of challenges.
Whether you’re a caregiver, therapist, or simply seeking to enrich your relationships, Chris’s insights will empower you to connect more authentically and love more wholeheartedly.
Reviews.
To the volume of books written to help humans navigate relationships, this book is a wonderful addition. With the training of a therapist and the honesty of one who has learned from his own life, Chris O’Rear offers layers and layers of practical wisdom for how we can relate, grow, and continue to learn from being in community with others. Along the way he offers a rich glimpse of additional material available for how to avoid pitfalls and step toward greater wholeness for everyone.
—Judy Skeen
Professor of Religion, Belmont University
Courage & Renewal facilitator,
spiritual director
In a refreshingly straightforward and candid manner, Chris O’Rear draws upon his experience as a pastoral psychotherapist to teach us how to form relationships that heal instead of hurt. His words are both practical and wise. Whether you want to be a better therapist, friend, or family member, this book will be a resource you turn to again and again. Highly recommended!
—Bruce Rogers-Vaughn
Associate Professor, Practice of Pastoral Theology and Counseling Vanderbilt Divinity School (retired)
Author of Caring for Souls in a Neoliberal Age
What I look for in a book are the same things I look for in a therapist or a friend: wisdom, honesty, and bravery, in league with vulnerability, humility, and love. This book has all these qualities, as does Chris O’Rear himself. I’ll be a better therapist—and a better friend—for having read it.
—Russell Siler Jones
Psychotherapist and author of Spirit in Session
With genuine authenticity, gleaning on his professional, clinical, and personal experience, Chris offers a solid framework for developing our “emotional toolbox,” inviting us to discover the transformational nature of deep and meaningful relationships. As we strive toward the goal of emotional health, good and healthy relationships with both clinicians and friends help us embrace ourselves to the fullest. In doing so, we become agents of God’s presence and love for others, as we experience God’s love for us through them. Reminding us that it’s about “progress, not perfection,” Chris’s words invited me into a safe and sacred space of rediscovering the therapeutic quality of good and healthy friendships.
—Rev. Renée Lloyd Owen, MDiv
Endorser & Director of Chaplaincy & Pastoral Counseling Ministries Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
I have been learning from Chris for years, as both friend and fellow church member. He really does embody the “humble curiosity” described in this book. Readers will understand, as I have witnessed in person, how a professional’s experience can mix with a life well lived to yield tremendous insight and care.
—Cliff Vaughn
Media Producer, Good Faith Media
Order Books.
Order from Smyth & Helwys Publishing HERE.