Everybody is a problem, has a problem, lives with problems or causes problems. If you have difficulties, deal with problem people or find yourself in conflict with others, Hope and Change for Humpty Dumpty will help you survive and thrive.

If you are someone who wants to influence others to change, then this book is for you. If you encounter folks who need mental-emotional healing, order it today. Written by change experts for the lay audience it contains insights from psychological research and offers simple yet profound steps of being a helper to those in need-including yourself.

Gary Sweeten and Steve Griebling are clinical counselors and marriage and family therapists who train pastors and lay helpers how to respond to broken people, hurting marriages and dysfunctional families. They have distilled the wisdom and insights usually reserved for expert psychotherapists and put it into plain language along with spiritual wisdom so ordinary people can use it to influence others at the office, church, small group or home.

Do you know someone who drinks too much, reads pornography, smokes, has an eating problem or difficulty at school? Are you ever asked for wisdom, counsel or advice by co-workers, friends, family members or fellow church members? Do you ever say, "I told them what to do but they just wouldn’t do it. What can I do?" You can learn how to be a more effective counselor and friend by grasping the insights presented by these internationally known teachers.

Humpty and Mrs. Dumpty are looking for loving people with answers to life’s chronic problems. You will learn how to provide them hope and change by mastering the four critical dimensions of influence and the three steps of all successful care and counsel. Filled with stories, examples and case studies, Hope and Change for Humpty Dumpty has inspired and helped discover practical ways to offer guidance to audiences in America, Europe, Russia and Asia. It is a manual that will prepare you to be on the cutting edge of the latest "technology" of human relations and spiritual influence.

Steven J. Griebling, M.S. has served as a clinical counselor in private practice with specialties in marital and family therapy, drug and alcohol addiction and brief therapy. He directed a lay counseling clinic and was Minister of Counseling in Columbus, Ohio before coming to Lifeway Counseling Centers as Clinical Director. He co-authored Healing Souls, Touching Hearts: Pastoral Counseling and Care in the Cell Church. Steve consults with leaders and church groups around the world.

Gary R. Sweeten, Ed. D. is a pastor and clinical counselor whose specialty is equipping Christians to care and counsel. He founded a lay counseling center at a church in Cincinnati, Ohio called, The Teleios Center and took its principles around the USA and into Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan. He is the founder of Lifeway Counseling Centers, Lifeway Ministries Inc. Int. and the Lifeway Institute. Publications include, Listening for Heaven’s Sake, Rational Christian Thinking, Christian Care and Counsel and Healing Souls, Touching Hearts and numerous articles. Gary also serves as a pastor of pastors in several congregations.

Lifeway Counseling Centers operate several clinics in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Founded in 1989 as an in-patient hospital for adults and adolescents, Lifeway treats hundreds of persons each year in an outpatient setting with a wholistic integration of psychotherapy, prayer and medicine.

A Road Map for Helping

We travel to several countries to teach and equip the church each year and the challenges are varied and exciting. As any ambassador on foreign soil, he needs maps and tour books so he does not get lost. It is easy to become disoriented, confused about directions, and easily distracted by the sights and sounds in the new surroundings. The customs, languages and traditions of each country are different so the possibilities of misunderstandings and errors are great.

In some places, the language is similar enough to English to get a bus or cab. However, in Taiwan and Russia the alphabet is so different that there is no English comparison and confusion among visitors is common. A taxi ride from the airport to a flat in St. Petersburg took Gary two hours because the driver could not find the address written in English. Counseling is sometimes similar to visiting a foreign country for it is a cross-cultural communications challenge that we must master or get lost. The Lifeskills' program is designed to teach you how to communicate in the culture, language and customs of the Seekers around you.

Every helping interaction requires us to think like a cross-cultural missionary to fully understand another person's heart. We have been orienting you to a new assignment as Christ's ambassador in the counseling ministry. Unfortunately, the orientation information can be overwhelming.

You will learn a simple road map to help you navigate the new terrain of care and counsel. Your guidebook allows a clear process of navigation among the twists and turns in this new, unfamiliar territory. Each encounter has its own language, customs and taboos, much of which is difficult to figure out. Our map will enable you to gauge the progress of Seeker’s cooperation and recognize when you are lost, violating some obscure local custom or getting into dangerous territory. Our map does several things:

• It lays out a plan for each stage of the journey.
• It indicates the sign posts to look for.
• It reveals the mile markers along the journey.
• It warns of dangerous curves and slippery roads.
• It gives hints about what do if you get stuck or lost.
• It tells you how to ask for directions.
• It offers simple ways to get back on the road.

Why do we need a map?

Despite the fact that most parents are not experts in child rearing, they do need to understand how their children's basic needs vary at differing stages of growth. There are simply too many factors to remember every detail about a child’s development, nutrition, illnesses, cures and the rules of good discipline. However, each of us can learn the most important aspects of child rearing at each stage of his/her development. A child of three works on learning letters, colors and shapes, not philosophy. A child of ten needs speaking, listening, reading, writing and spelling skills rather than training on how to write a novel. A teenager is preparing to launch out in life as an independent young man or woman not learning how to deal with retirement.

In the same manner, new believers are counting the cost of following Christ rather than how become a good pastoral leader. A mature believer will be looking at her gifts and attempting to integrate church life with work and home. A wise Helper knows how to gauge the needs, desires and motivational levels of a Seeker at each stage of his/her growth and maturity. Otherwise, we would be like adults who want their three-year-old child to understand and care for the parents. Wise leaders know how to support Seekers at their particular level of growth and delay teaching things too advanced for the person to integrate into real life.

The Lifeskills Road Map is designed to help us assess the Seeker's level of motivation and maturity so we can maximize our influence at each stage of the growth/healing process. Is the Seeker at the beginning of the change process, the middle, or near the end? Are we cooperatively working to learn the alphabet, sentence structure or a graduate school research paper? The Helper's approach, involvement, suggestions and goals are different for each person since no two people are the same.

Helping is not for the benefit of the Helper but for the Seeker. Preaching is for the listener not for the preacher. Group life is for the cell member not the leader. Servant leaders must learn how to lay down personal priorities, plans and ideas to fit the needs of the one seeking ministry. Servant leaders are experts at discerning the Seeker's needs and respond accordingly.