ABSTRACT
This chapter examines crisis, its meaning and potential uses for people with dementia and their careers. It discusses crisis intervention work and assess its uses and limitations when working with people with dementia and their careers and shows how the term ‘crisis’ is used and what it means. The chapter aims to describe crisis intervention and reviews some of its applications within social work. Many different models have developed, but perhaps the American psychiatrist Gerald Caplan is the best-known name associated with crisis intervention. There are many different models for the practical application of crisis intervention. The crisis intervention practitioner must also develop a self-awareness and understanding of his or her emotions, and how he or she has functioned in crisis situations. Crisis intervention provides a unique opportunity to effect constructive change, to intervene in order to optimise social functioning, to enable choice and participation, and to provide appropriate services.
