Customer Reviews

Assessment for Crisis Intervention: A Triage Assessment Model

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Before I go in depth about the book, I want to talk about my background. Im a Masters Level counseling student and this is one of the books I had to read for class. I would give this at least three stars if someone was interested in crisis intervention who had no prior experience with counseling techniques.

The book had several flaws, despite this there were some strengths. Below I will make a list of what the pros and cons of the book were

+Lots of citations and research
+Throughly goes over the Triage Assessment Form
+Three good complete case studies
+For the most part easy to follow

-ALOT of overlapping information. There is a chapter dedicated to exclusively to each cognitive, behavioral, and affective reactions. While this may not be unjustified, the book repeats alot of the same information that overlaps between the three. Its on a scale, dont pressure the client, be careful for cultural differences, etc.

-It is a plus that the book is easy to follow, but this is a double edged sword. The author likes to use lists with a paragraph dedicated to each item on the list. First. Second. Third. etc. This gets a little mind numbing after awhile. To be fair, rather an easy read than an interesting read given the graveness of the context.

-Alot of the research isnt something directly useful and is very anecdotal / circumstantial. While I strongly agree that the counselor should be aware of cultural facets, scattering random tid bits of information throughout the chapters is hardly helpful.

Anecdotal: African Americans MAY be more expressive of their emotions as they grieve (pg. 47)
Circumstantial: Asian Americans orientation is primarily past and present (pg. 68)

-Some slightly ambivalent information. For example the book emphasizes the intervention starts on the most affected domain. Yet on the first case study the psychologist had the client talk about her emotions (the lesser affected domain) because they were blocking her cognitions.

-Chapter 2 assessment models is rather useless (but luckily short). The focus of the book is on the Triage Assessment Form; a form that is expectantly provided in the back of the book. Comparing the TAF to other forms which the book doesnt cover, much less provide, does little for my understanding of anything.

If you are a teacher considering this for masters level students, my recommendation would be not to. I believe it would be much more useful to (with permission) give the students copies of the TAF and explain it in class. And maybe even have the students do a few case studies. In my opinion, there is no justification for a student needing to pay 55 dollars for this book as a supplemental reading.

If you have no prior knowledge in crisis intervention, which is likely since volunteers are a 6:1 ratio with professionals, this may be a good supplementary reading. I said the book "at least 3 stars" for non-counseling students because I havent looked at what else is out there for volunteers, I dont plan to either ( ;