This book teaches helping professionals the skills and procedures they need to know to handle crises. Gilliland and James present a six-step model that gives students and practitioners a systematic way of dealing with people in crisis: Defining the Problem; Ensuring Client Safety; Providing Support; Examining Alternatives; Making Plans; and Obtaining Commitment. Upon this model the authors then build specific strategies for handling a myriad of different crisis situations -- in many cases providing the dialogue the nurse, minister, police officer, counselor, or other practitioner might have with the person in crisis.

This practical book uses real case studies to present crisis intervention and therapeutic techniques for a broad range of situations. These authors combine innovative techniques with current research to explain the most contemporary approaches to crisis intervention. The wide use of case studies and dialogues allows readers to experience what the crisis worker experiences.

This text is intended to teach crisis intervention skills to students in