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Albert R. Roberts, ed. Crisis Intervention Handbook: Assessment, Treatment, and Research. Oxford University Press, 2005. 845 pp.
In the post-9/11 world, we cannot help but have a level of consciousness about the real possibility of crisis that is always with us. The United States has endured a traumatic transformation from a country relatively secure in its sense of safety from external aggression, to a country where nearly every community and organization has a crisis plan in place in the event of a terrorist attack. Of course, crisis has always been a part of our lives as individuals and communities, but never before have we all had to grapple with "what if questions of such enormity and possibility.
Within this environment, social workers need to be prepared to be on the forefront of crisis response on every scale. As Albert Roberts points out, there is an urgent need to educate social workers in disaster mental health, crisis intervention, critical incident stress management, and trauma treatment methods. Despite this urgent need, Roberts notes that only a small number of Masters of Social Work programs in the United States offer a semester course in crisis intervention.
In this context, Roberts has published a timely third edition of Crisis Intervention Handbook: Assessment, Treatment, and Research. Roberts is professor of criminal justice and social work at Livingston College Campus at Rutgers, with significant expertise in the area of crisis intervention. He has edited an ambitious and comprehensive tome, comprising 32 chapters and over 800 pages. The handbook is filled with clear theoretical foundations, practical interventions, and fascinating and instructive case studies. It is engaging, well written, and readable. He has assembled an impressive, multidisciplinary cast of contributing authors from various fields including social work, psychiatry, and psychology.
The underlying foundation of the book is Roberts' seven-stage model for crisis intervention. In Part I of the book, Roberts' and others present an overview of crisis intervention and introduce the seven-stage model:
1. Plan and...