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Penguin Random House

ISBN: 9781961293465
Release: Dec 30, 2025
Format: Paperback, 6 x 9, 256 pages
Published by Hatherleigh Press

Drawing on decades of clinical research and real-world experience, Dr. Stecker explores the psychological barriers that keep people from seeking support, from fear and shame to mistrust and denial. Rather than placing the burden solely on families or communities, Choosing Help introduces a groundbreaking intervention model designed to shift the individual’s own mindset—making the decision to seek help not just possible, but empowering.
Praise for Choosing Help
“Grounded in cutting-edge science and brought to life through deeply human stories, this book offers practical tools for navigating the most common—and often most difficult—reasons people avoid getting help.”

—Sudie Back, PhD, Director of Drug Abuse Research Training, Medical University of South Carolina

“…provides practical techniques and easy to understand examples that not only build confidence to initiate that conversation, but to help get your loved one, co-worker, or patient into the treatment they need.”

—Lisham Ashrafioun, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center

“As a clinician and researcher, I see the same barrier over and over: people want help, but anxiety, stigma, and logistics win. This book targets that barrier directly with practical, stepwise strategies and clear measurement.”

—Nik Allan, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, The Ohio State University

“A readable and highly useful book on seeking mental health help. A highly recommended read from a world’s authority on the topic.”

—Thomas Joiner, PhD, Director, FSU Psychology Clinic

“Friends, parents, teachers, counselors, doctors, and other health providers, especially those who are not familiar with cognitive behavior therapy, will find this book educational and useful.”

—Bob Drake, MD, PhD, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Columbia University

“…an invaluable tool for families, healthcare professionals and students learning to build trust and foster meaningful conversations.”

—Teresa Kelechi, PhD, Dean of Research in the College of Nursing, Medical University of South Carolina

Includes a foreword from Charles W. Hoge, MD

"Choosing Help is a gem of a book, a roadmap for how to communicate with someone resistant to seeking help. It is understandable, eloquent, and on point, making accessible to everyone cognitive-behavioral and motivational skills that until now have largely been the purview of health professionals."

Charles W. Hoge, MD, Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired) directed the U.S. military's premiere research program on the mental health and neurological effects of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq from 2002 to 2009 at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. He deployed to Iraq in 2004 to improve combat stress care. A national expert on war-related mental health issues and traumatic brain injury, Dr. Hoge has testified to Congress and is interviewed frequently by national news organizations. He continues to work as a staff psychiatrist treating service members, veterans, and family members. He lives in the Washington, D.C. area. He is the author of Once a Warrior Always a Warrior: Navigating the Transition from Combat to Home.