ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the questions, "What skills should be targeted?" "How does the caseworker go about assessing them?" and "How are objectives to be determined?", to provide the worker with the action steps necessary to help family members acquire relapse prevention skills. Casework in today's world cannot and should not rely on vague unmeasurable goals for decision-making. While the caseworker has assessed significant environmental stressors for this mother and will work with her on these concerns, the worker recognizes that these stressors may not be within the mother's control and ultimately the mother will need to master her temper under such high-risk situations. A particular key to the safe management of stressful, high-risk life events is the ability of members to intervene early in their cycle. By avoiding high-risk situations, individuals and families enter fewer dangerous sequences and are therefore less frequently at risk.
