COOKEVILLE – There’s a lot that Chad Luke wants students in his mental health counseling classes at Tennessee Tech to know. With a career background in mental health counseling himself, Luke often considers the things he wishes someone would have told him about the field before he got started.

Both in the classroom engaging with him directly and now through published books, Luke’s students get full insight from him about the subjects they are studying. Most recently, Luke published Essentials of Career Focused Counseling, his second published academic book, and is teaching a class with the book this summer.

“One of my students said that when she was reading the book, she felt like I was talking to her,” Luke said. “That’s perfect. That’s what I want.”

Luke’s first published academic book, Neuroscience for Counselors and Therapists, was born from his background knowledge base and allowed him to think differently about the subject materials as he sought ways to help students relate to the materials and increase their likelihood of actually reading course texts.

With Essentials of Career Focused Counseling, Luke had already been teaching courses on career counseling and he was able to identify gaps that his book seeks to fill.

“Many academic books are written so far from the student experience,” Luke said. “I want to be able to hand students the book and say to them, ‘Here is what I want you to know about the field.’”

Between the text book and engaging classroom experiences, Luke says it not only builds a strong experience for the students, but it also helps him have a deeper understanding of the materials so that when he enters the classroom he can help the students think more deeply about the material as well.

Luke recently began work on a revision to Neuroscience for Counselors and Therapists and he recently co-authored a counseling practicum book to be published in Spring 2019, but it is his work with students that inspires his writing.

“I always keep in mind the clients that my students will help and work with some day,” Luke said. “This is my opportunity to help shape the next generate of helpers.”

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