ABSTRACT
Social workers work with people who are in crisis all the time; people whose normal coping mechanisms have broken down, and they are, quite literally, at the end of their tether. Crisis intervention theory and practice offer a helpful way of responding to people in crisis, and Albert Roberts, Professor in Criminal Justice and Social Work at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey in Pitscataway, is one of the best authorities on this subject in the world. In locating this extract, it is important to acknowledge that crisis intervention, like task-centred practice (see Reid and Epstein 1972; Doel 2002), is a problem-solving approach, drawing on the early work of Helen Perlman (1957). It also shares with a task-centred approach the idea that it is most helpful to work with people who are in trouble in a short-term, focused way, instead of offering longer term support (as shown in research including a classic study by Mayer and Timms published in 1970). More recently, these ideas have been developed further in solution focused brief therapy (SFBT) where the focus shifts to understanding solutions, not problems (Ansbacher and Ansbacher 1998; Cree and Myers 2008). In the selected extract, Albert Roberts describes the historical beginnings of crisis intervention theory, and offers a useful model for practice now and in the future.
From Crisis Intervention Handbook: Assessment, Treatment and Research, Oxford: Oxford University Press, (2005): 11–21.
