Constructing the Core: Key Skills for Life
Edition: 1
Copyright: 2025
Pages: 230
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$84.00 USD
Designed by licensed mental health professionals and grounded in real-world clinical experience, Constructing the Core: Key Skills for Life offers a structured, evidence-informed framework for teaching students the foundations of mental well-being. Built around two core concepts, Key Core Beliefs and the HEART Essentials (Health, Emotions, Awareness, Relationships, and Transcendence), it equips learners with the insight and practical skills needed to navigate life’s challenges with resilience and clarity.
Ideal for integration into college-level psychology, counseling, or wellness curricula, Constructing the Core empowers students to explore personal growth while developing a deeper understanding of mental health principles. With a focus on applied learning and self-reflection, it fosters both academic and personal transformation—preparing students not just for the classroom, but for life.
OVERVIEW: A Brief Description of How Key Core Beliefs Changes Lives
SECTION ONE: Discovering the Fundamentals of Core-Related Health
1. THE IMPACT OF CORE BELIEFS: Making Sense of Our Experiences
2. TOTAL HEART OF LIVING: Achieving Greater Health & Well-Being
3. How Relationships Shape Our Core Beliefs: Replacing Negative Core Beliefs
SECTION TWO: Transforming Any Undesirable Self-Belief
4. The Most Vital Core Belief: Worthy of Love
5. GREAT RELATIONSHIPS: The Prospects of Cooperative Success
6. Understanding How We Cope: Overcoming Internal Block
7. Creating a Strong IDENTITY: Creating a Constructive Sense of Self
8. You – A Work in Progress: Discovering Life Success
SECTION THREE: Elevating our Key Core Beliefs
9. Crucial EMOTIONAL SKILLS: Building the Basis for Living Well
10. Matching Values and Behaviors: Living IN HARMONY:
11. INSPIRED SOLUTIONS: Appreciating the Key Skills to Rise Above and to Forgive
12. SENSORY AWARENESS
13. Create Your Core: The HEART Living Life
CONCLUDING CHALLENGE
APPENDIXES
A “KEY CORE BELIEFS”—The Book Summarized as a One-Page Chart
B Additional Reading
C Finding a Qualified Mental Health Professional
D Notes for Mental Health Professionals
E The Concepts of “KEY CORE BELIEFS”
Gray Otis is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor with a PhD Counseling Psychology. He specializes in trauma recovery, substance use, compulsive behaviors, and couples’ relationships. His treatment focus resolves the core issues of disorders to achieve lasting, evidence-based outcomes. In therapy, he promotes a positive self-identity, enhanced relationships, and holistic well-being. Gray is a past president of the American Mental Health Counselors Association, is active in state and national mental health initiatives, and currently serves on the Utah State Mental Health Advisory Council. He has taught graduate courses in mental health therapy and frequently presents on trauma treatment, emotional fitness, relational effectiveness, applied ethics, and integrated behavioral health. Along with, Sandi Williams, LMFT, he authored “Key Core Beliefs, Unlocking the HEART of Happiness and Health,” and “Key Core Beliefs Trauma Care: The Clinician’s Guide to Core-Focused Treatment.”
Sandi Williams is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with a Masters degree in Psychology as well as a Masters degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. She specializes in relationships, life transitions, anxiety, parenting challenges, grief, trauma, and family conflict. She is trained in various therapies including EFT, EMDR, ACT, DBT, CBT, Sandplay and Play Therapy. She is a full-time professor at Utah Valley University and is a presenter at national workshops and conferences. She has published various articles and is co-author of the recently released “Key Core Beliefs: Unlocking the HEART of Happiness and Health”. She is also a board member of the National Board of Trauma Specialists.