Jeffrey Kottler Professor (657) 278-7537 Office: EC-430 jkottler@fullerton.edu

Personal Biography

For the past 30 years, I have been teaching counseling, psychology, and education all over the world- in universities throughout the U.S. and elsewhere. I have been a Fulbright Lecturer in Peru and in Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands. I have taught counseling in other countries as well: Australia, China, Hong Kong, Nepal, New Zealand, the Philippines, Venezuela, Nepal, and work with Ph.D. students in Australia. I am, therefore, intensely interested in cultural differences and remain committed to working with indigenous peoples.

I spent many years working on an Indian reservation, teaching counseling to minority students; this program was also involved in teaching Native Hawaiian students on several islands.  I have also worked as a counselor in a hospital, school, university, business, crisis center, drug treatment center, and private practice.

I am quite interested in adventure-based travel, hiking, surfing, biking, trekking, photography, and seeing as much of the world as I can. Being playful and having fun are important to me. Although I am quite productive and efficient in my professional life, it is important to me to laugh as much as possible. It is also important that I do something useful every day. The last thing I think about before I go to bed at night is who I helped that day or how I made a small difference in the world.

I have been actively involved in starting a foundation that is devoted to providing scholarships for young girls in Nepal who are risk to be sold into sex slavery. For the past several years, I have taken groups of students, faculty, and professionals to Nepal in order to provide expertise and support to those most in need. Further information about the Madhav Ghimire Foundation can be found at http://www.ghimirefoundation.org/.
My personal website, which includes a photo gallery, can be found at: www.jeffreykottler.com

Teaching

I have been teaching counseling for the past 30 years, with undergraduates, masters degree students, and doctoral students. I have taught a wide variety of courses in some very unusual settings - from Quantico Marine Base and the Citadel Military Academy (Yes, they teach counseling there) to retreat centers in Maui. I have worked at a variety of American universities - University of Virginia, Texas Tech University, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Oakland University, and University of North Alabama. I taught for many years at the Center for Humanistic Studies, a doctoral training program for psychologists. I also supervise doctoral students at the University of New England in Australia.

My teaching specialties include group counseling, multicultural counseling, supervision of counseling, counseling theory, qualitative research, and any other course that is heavily experiential. Because I have written the textbooks for several different courses (Techniques of Counseling, Theories of Counseling, Introduction to Counseling, Group Counseling, Advanced Group Therapy, Qualitative Research, Stress Management, Counseling Practicum, Secondary Education) I can concentrate my teaching efforts on practical elements.

My teaching style is rather informal. I believe strongly in cooperative learning and the use of field experiences and practical exercises to learn counseling theory and methods. I use cultural immersion experiences to help students adapt what they are learning to a wide range of client populations.

Research

My research interests are quite broad. Throughout my career I have concentrated mostly on the counselor's inner experience and how practitioners deal with the stress and strains of working in this field. I have written a lot in the areas of group leadership and relationship issues in therapy, especially counter-transference issues. I have also done considerable research in the area of working with difficult and resistant clients.

The past decade I have been working on a half dozen different projects that deal with a wide range of subjects: a study of what makes changes last in counseling and therapy and a series of books that involve interviews with the most famous therapists in the world about their worst sessions, their best sessions, their most unusual clients, and the clients who most changed them. Most recently, a colleague and I have been collecting stories from famous therapists about their most creative breakthroughs.

I think one of my greatest strengths as a scholar and professor is my experience mentoring others, teaching them the process by which one conducts meaningful research and publishes it widely.

I have written over 70 different books for counselors, psychologists, teachers, and the public. One of them, The Last Victim, was a New York Times Bestseller and is being made into a movie. The others have been adopted by universities all over the world and are among the most frequently cited books in the field. My books have been translated into over a  dozen different languages including Mandarin, Czech, Finnish, and Icelandic. Several of my books

Minichiello, V., & Kottler, J. A. (2009). Qualitative Journeys: Student and Mentor Experiences with Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Kottler, J. A., & Marriner, M. (2009).  Changing People’s Lives While Transforming Your Own: Paths to Social Justice and Global Human Rights. New York: Wiley.

Kottler, J. A., & Shepard, D. (2008). Introduction to Counseling: Voices from the Field(6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Kottler, J. A., & Chen, D. (2008). Stress Management and Prevention: Applications to Daily Life. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Kottler, J. A., & Kottler, E. (2007). Counseling Skills for Teachers (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Crown Press.

Kottler, J. A., & Carlson, J. (2007). Moved By the Spirit: Discovery and Transformation in the Lives of Leaders. Atascadero, CA: Impact.

Kottler, J. A. Kottler, J. A. (2006). Divine Madness: Ten Stories of Creative Struggle. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Kottler, J. A., & Carlson, J. (2006). The Client Who Changed Me: Stories of Therapist Personal Transformation. New York: Brunner/Routledge.

Kottler, J. A., & Carlson, J. (2005). Their Finest Hour: Master Therapists Share Their Greatest Success Stories. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Kottler, J. A., Carlson, J., & Keeney, B. (2004). An American Shaman: An Odyssey of Ancient Healing Traditions. New York: Brunner/Routledge.

Kottler, J. A. (2003). On Being a Therapist (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Kottler, J. A., & Carlson, J. (2003). The Mummy At the Dining Room Table: Eminent Therapists Reveal Their Most Unusual Cases and What They Teach Us About Human Behavior. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Kottler, J. A., & Carlson, J. (2003). Bad Therapy: Master Therapists Share Their Worst Failures. New York: Brunner/Routledge.