Handling crisis situations is a scary and often intimidating task for many beginning and even seasoned counselors, social workers, human service workers, psychologists, nurses, police officers and other professionals. Assessment is the foundation and most critical process in crisis intervention since it helps provide the practitioner with essential information reducing the trial and error method that many practitioners find themselves using

Myer discusses a three-dimensional model for understanding the assessment process using affect, cognition, and behavior reactions as the three core components of the assessment process. Unique in its focus on assessment in crisis intervention, this text provides a needed element that is often left out or treated superficially in other crisis intervention texts.