Kottler, Jeffrey A. 1951–

PERSONAL: Born February 6, 1951, in Detroit, MI; son of Ronald (in sales) and Lois Kottler; married Ellen Isackson (a teacher), 1974; children: Cary. Education: Attended Oakland University, 1972; Wayne State University, M.A., 1975; University of Virginia, Ph.D., 1977.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Routledge, 270 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: University of North Alabama, Florence, assistant professor, 1976–81; Oakland University, Rochester, MI, adjunct professor, 1982–90; The Citadel, Charleston, SC, associate professor of counseling, beginning 1990–91; University of Nevada, Las Vegas, professor of counseling; California State University, Fullerton, professor and chair of the counseling program. Fulbright scholar and lecturer in Peru, 1980, Iceland, 2000; visiting professor in New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Nepal.

MEMBER: American Psychological Association, American Association for Counseling and Development.

AWARDS, HONORS: Fulbright scholar, 1980, 2000.

WRITINGS:

(With William Van Hoose) Ethical and Legal Issues in Counseling and Psychotherapy, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 1977.

Mouthing Off, Libra (New York, NY), 1981.

Pragmatic Group Leadership, Brooks/Cole (Pacific Grove, CA), 1983.

(With Robert Brown) Introduction to Therapeutic Counseling, Brooks/Cole (Pacific Grove, CA), 1985, 5th edition, 2003.

On Being a Therapist, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 1987, 3rd edition, 2003.

(With Diane Blau) The Imperfect Therapist: Learning from Failure in Therapeutic Practice, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 1989.

Private Moments, Secret Selves: Enriching Our Time Alone, J.P. Tarcher (New York, NY), 1990.

The Compleat Therapist, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 1991.

Compassionate Therapy: Working with Difficult Clients, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 1992.

(With Stanley J. Zehm) On Being a Teacher: The Human Dimension, Corwin Press (Newbury Park, CA), 1993, 2nd edition, 2000.

(With wife, Ellen Kottler) Teacher as Counselor: Developing the Helping Skills You Need, Corwin Press (Newbury Park, CA), 1993.

(With Richard J. Hazler) The Emerging Professional Counselor: Student Dreams to Professional Realities, American Counseling Association (Alexandria, VA), 1994, 2nd edition, 2005.

Advanced Group Leadership, Brooks/Cole (Pacific Grove, CA), 1994.

Beyond Blame: A New Way of Resolving Conflicts in Relationships, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 1994, reprinted, MJF Books (New York, NY), 2002.

(With Thomas L. Sexton and Susan C. Whiston) The Heart of Healing: Relationships in Therapy, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 1994.

Growing a Therapist (memoir), Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 1995.

(With Richard R. Powell and Stanley J. Zehm) Classrooms under the Influence: Addicted Families, Addicted Students, Corwin Press (New-bury Park, CA), 1995.

The Language of Tears, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 1996.

(Editor) Finding Your Way as a Counselor, American Counseling Association (Alexandria, VA), 1997.

(Editor, with Holly Forester-Miller) Issues and Challenges for Group Practitioners, Love Publishing Co. (Denver, CO), 1997.

What's Really Said in the Teachers' Lounge: Provocative Ideas about Cultures and Classrooms, Corwin Press (Thousand Oaks, CA), 1997.

Succeeding with Difficult Students, Corwin Press (Thousand Oaks, CA), 1997.

Success with Challenging Students, Corwin Press (Thousand Oaks, CA), 1997.

Travel That Can Change Your Life: How to Create a Transformative Experience, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 1997.

(With Richard J. Hazler) What You Never Learned in Graduate School, W.W. Norton (New York, NY), 1997.

(With wife, Ellen Kottler, and son, Cary J. Kottler) Secrets for Secondary School Teachers: How to Succeed in Your First Year, Corwin Press (Thousand Oaks, CA), 1998.

Exploring and Treating Acquisitive Desire: Living in the Material World, Sage Publications (Thousand Oaks, CA), 1999.

(With Elaine K. McEwan) Counseling Tips for Elementary School Principals, Corwin Press (Thousand Oaks, CA), 1999.

Nuts and Bolts of Helping, Allyn and Bacon (Boston, MA), 1999.

(With Jason Moss) The Last Victim: A True-Life Journey into the Mind of the Serial Killer, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1999.

The Therapist's Workbook: Self-Assessment, Self-Care, and Self-Improvement Exercises for Mental Health Professionals, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 1999.

(With Ellen Kottler) Counseling Skills for Teachers, Corwin Press (Thousand Oaks, CA), 2000.

Doing Good: Passion and Commitment for Helping Others, Brunner-Routledge (Philadelphia, PA), 2000.

Making Changes Last, Brunner-Routledge (Philadelphia, PA), 2001.

Learning Group Leadership: An Experiential Approach, Allyn and Bacon (Boston, MA), 2001.

(Editor) Counselors Finding Their Way, American Counseling Association (Alexandria, VA), 2002.

(With Ellen Kottler) Children with Limited English: Teaching Strategies for the Regular Classroom, 2nd edition, Corwin Press (Thousand Oaks, CA), 2002.

Students Who Drive You Crazy: Succeeding with Resistant, Unmotivated, and Otherwise Difficult Young People, Corwin Press (Thousand Oaks, CA), 2002.

Theories in Counseling and Therapy: An Experiential Approach, Allyn and Bacon (Boston, MA), 2002.

(Editor, with Paul Jones) Doing Better: Improving Clinical Skills and Professional Competence, Brunner-Routledge (New York, NY), 2003.

(Editor, with Jon Carlson) The Mummy at the Dining Room Table: Eminent Therapists Reveal Their Most Unusual Cases and What They Teach Us about Human Behavior, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 2003.

(With Jon Carlson) Bad Therapy: Master Therapists Share Their Worst Failures, Brunner-Routledge (New York, NY), 2003.

(With Leah M. Brew) One Life at a Time: Helping Skills and Interventions, Brunner-Routledge (New York, NY), 2003.

(With Jon Carlson and Bradford Keeney) American Shaman: An Odyssey of Global Healing Traditions, Brunner-Routledge (New York, NY), 2004.

(With W. Paul Jones) Understanding Research: Becoming a Competent and Critical Consumer, Prentice Hall (New York, NY), 2005.

(Editor, with Jon Carlson) The Client Who Changed Me: Stories of Therapist Personal Transformation, Routledge (New York, NY), 2005.

(Editor, with Jon Carlson) Their Finest Hour: Master Therapists Share Their Greatest Success Stories, 2005.

SIDELIGHTS: Jeffrey A. Kottler has worked as a counselor and educator around the world and provided therapy to people on a Native American reservation, as well as in schools, universities, hospitals, drug treatment centers, crisis centers, businesses, and in private practice. Kottler is also the author of an impressive number of volumes, including Growing a Therapist, a memoir in which Kottler describes his childhood and young adulthood, including those troubling incidents and situations that led him to be a therapist. A reviewer for Adolescence noted that the book is characterized by Kottler's "vulnerability. Because Kottler has the courage to speak the truth about his life and work, he gives comfort to others who feel as imperfect and flawed as he does."

In Beyond Blame: A New Way of Resolving Conflicts in Relationships, Kottler suggests a six-step process through which individuals can identity the patterns that trigger conflict in personal and work relationships, and he includes vignettes from his own life and those of his clients to demonstrate his theories.

With Travel That Can Change Your Life: How to Create a Transformative Experience, Kottler compares the ways in which we approach travel, noting that some people prefer predictability, while others are willing to risk the unknown in search of new experiences. He recommends that the traveler become part of the culture of his destination, learn new skills, including language, and keep a journal of the experience.

Kottler provides both the prologue and afterword of The Last Victim: A True-Life Journey into the Mind of the Serial Killer, by Jason Moss. Moss, a student of Kottler, corresponded with killers Charles Manson, Richard Ramirez, Jeffrey Dahmer, and John Wayne Gacy while writing his master's thesis. Moss writes of his nightmares and the effects of so much time spent investigating the most brutal crimes of these criminals. Mike Tribby wrote in Booklist that the volume is "fine, macabre recreational reading, albeit mostly for truecrime devotees and aficionados of the bizarre."

In reviewing Doing Good: Passion and Commitment for Helping Others, Journal of Rehabilitation reviewer Brandon Hunt commented that he is a "fan of Jeffrey Kottler's work" and that he has recommended Kottler's books "to students who want to learn more about the 'human' side of counseling." Kottler uses stories that demonstrate his topic in a book designed to aid both those new to the field and experienced counselors who may need re-enforcement. "Kottler does an effec-tive and unbiased job of presenting literature and research that support a variety of theories about why people and animals help one another," noted Hunt.

American Journal of Psychiatry contributor Leslie M. Lothstein commented that with The Mummy at the Dining Room Table: Eminent Therapists Reveal Their Most Unusual Cases and What They Teach us about Human Behavior, Kottler and Jon Carlson "have provided us with a 'Ripley's Believe It or Not' approach to case histories." Each of the thirty-two chapters features an interview with a therapist who provides a general discussion of a case that is memorable or which has impacted him or her as a counselor. The strangeness of some of the cases is reflected by chapter titles that include "The Urge to Eat from Garbage Cans," "The Penis That Needed Permission from the Church," and "The Woman Who Hanged Herself to Check Her Husband's Response Time." The first case in the volume is one of Kottler's and involves a man who wanted to have his nose cut off because of a smell that he could not bear. The mummy of the title refers to a case in which a family kept a woman's mummified body in a chair for seven years following her death. Booklist critic Donna Chavez felt that The Mummy at the Dining Room Table provides entertainment for the lay reader, but also "underscores the value of seeking professional therapy and choosing the right therapist."

Kottler told CA: "My books are driven by some personal issue in my life that feels unresolved. I am searching for answers to appease my own curiosity or pain, and in the process I hope to help others address the same themes. I believe that the ultimate teacher/writer/therapist is someone who practices what he or she preaches."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Kottler, Jeffrey A., Growing a Therapist, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 1995.

PERIODICALS

Adolescence, spring, 1999, review of Growing a Therapist, p. 249.

American Journal of Psychiatry, July, 2004, Leslie M. Lothstein, review of The Mummy at the Dining Room Table: Eminent Therapists Reveal Their Most Unusual Cases and What They Teach Us about Human Behavior, p. 1316.

Booklist, April 1, 1999, Mike Tribby, review of The Last Victim: A True-Life Journey into the Mind of the Serial Killer, p. 1371; February 15, 2003, Donna Chavez, review of The Mummy at the Dining Room Table, p. 1026.

Economist, January 17, 2004, review of The Mummy at the Dining Room Table, p. 74.

Family Business Review, March, 1998, Bobbi Gordon, review of Beyond Blame: A New Way of Resolving Conflicts in Relationships, p. 84.

Journal of Rehabilitation, October-December, 2000, Brandon Hunt, review of Doing Good: Passion and Commitment for Helping Others, p. 65.

Library Journal, July, 1997, Alison Hopkins, review of Travel that Can Change Your Life: How to Create a Transformative Experience, p. 112.

New Scientist, July 5, 2003, Roy Herbert, review of The Mummy at the Dining Room Table, p. 51.

Presbyterian Record, November, 1999, Dorothy Henderson, review of Travel that Can Change Your Life, p. 45.

Publishers Weekly, June 1, 1990, Genevieve Stuttaford, review of Private Moments, Secret Selves: Enriching Our Time Alone, p. 53; January 25, 1991, Genevieve Stuttaford, review of The Compleat Therapist, p. 53; March 28, 1994, review of Beyond Blame, p. 78; March 1, 1999, review of The Last Victim, p. 53.

ONLINE

Corwin Press Web site, http://www.corwinpress.com/ (December 19, 2005), profile of Kottler.

Jeffrey Kottler Home Page, http://www.jeffreykottler.com (December 19, 2005).