This book shows mental health providers how to envision crises as time-limited windows of opportunity―as tipping points clients can seize to achieve new insights and move in positive directions in their lives.
"It is a positive, strength-based frame for seeing crisis as an opportunity…The author skillfully brings to the fore the idea of crisis shaped in culture; a brilliant and important way to excavate through crisis as a determinant for change…This is an easy read, but profound in its content. This is a book to keep, as it will be malleable for practitioners as they develop skills and professional goals.”―Doody’s Reviews
Aligns with APA Divisions 38 and 50.
Most mental health practitioners have been taught to do risk assessments and to reduce danger to their clients and those around them. However, many providers lack a thorough understanding of the cause and nature of mental health crises and struggle to safely and successfully provide crisis intervention. Instead of seeking to return clients in crisis to their previous baseline, providers can seize the opportunity presented by crises and tip them toward rapid resolution.
In Part One of the book, J. Scott Fraser outlines his Process of Change model, a clear and concrete approach to understanding crises in their proper context; engaging with clients through their values, culture, and language; honoring their goals; and breaking cycles of crisis for good. In Part Two, he shows how different types of crises―trauma, suicidality, grief, intimate partner violence, and sexual assault―reflect similar vicious cycles. Real life case studies illustrate the Process of Change model in action, demonstrating how each of those cycles can be tipped toward resolution by embracing the contextual process of change perspective.
J. Scott Fraser, PhD, is a clinical psychologist with nearly 40 years of clinical practice, supervision, training, and academic teaching. He has served as director of internship training, associate dean, and director of clinical training and as professor of clinical psychology in the doctoral program at the School of Professional Psychology at the Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. Before that, he was director of a crisis/brief therapy center in a large general hospital setting for 14 years. He has published many papers and books, including Unifying Effective Psychotherapies: Tracing the Process of Change (APA Books, 2018) and the DVD titled The Process of Change in Integrative Psychotherapy, which uses the process model described in this book.
