LPC - Licensed Professional Counselor Crisis Intervention Strategies Questions and Answers

Question 1

A client arrives at a community mental health center in a highly agitated state, pacing, speaking loudly, and clenching their fists.
They are expressing extreme frustration about a recent eviction notice.
What is the counselor's IMMEDIATE priority?

Accepted Answer

Ensure the safety of the client, self, and others using de-escalation techniques.

Answer

Complete the full intake paperwork to gather history.

Answer

Explore the client's childhood history of expressing anger.

Answer

Immediately contact law enforcement to remove the client.

Question 2

Which of the following represents the correct sequence for the FIRST three stages of Albert Roberts' Seven-Stage Crisis Intervention Model?

Accepted Answer

Plan and conduct a psychosocial and lethality assessment; Establish rapport; Identify the major problems.

Answer

Establish rapport; Identify major problems; Deal with feelings and emotions.

Answer

Assess lethality; Generate and explore alternatives; Develop an action plan.

Answer

Make psychological contact; Examine alternatives; Obtain commitment to action.

Question 3

A counselor is providing Psychological First Aid (PFA) to survivors immediately following a large-scale community fire. Which of the following actions is MOST consistent with the core principles of PFA?

Accepted Answer

Assisting a survivor in contacting family members and accessing immediate practical resources like water and shelter.

Answer

Insisting that each survivor recount the details of the event to begin processing the trauma.

Answer

Providing an on-site psychiatric diagnosis to streamline future treatment.

Answer

Focusing on long-term, insight-oriented therapy goals.

Question 4

During a crisis hotline call, a client states, "I just can't take it anymore. Everything feels hopeless." To effectively assess the level of suicide risk, which of the following questions is the MOST critical for the counselor to ask NEXT?

Accepted Answer

"Are you thinking about harming or killing yourself?"

Answer

"Why are you feeling so hopeless right now?"

Answer

"Have you ever felt this way in the past?"

Answer

"Who in your life can you talk to about this?"

Question 5

In the context of crisis intervention, particularly in a setting with multiple individuals affected by a single event, the term "triage" refers to the process of:

Accepted Answer

Sorting and prioritizing individuals based on the urgency and severity of their needs.

Answer

Providing long-term therapy to clients with the most severe diagnoses.

Answer

A specific therapeutic technique used to de-escalate agitated clients.

Answer

The legal requirement to report imminent danger to the authorities.

Question 6

A counselor who has been working intensively with trauma survivors begins to experience intrusive thoughts related to clients' stories, increased irritability, and a diminished sense of personal safety. This psychological response is best described as:

Accepted Answer

Vicarious traumatization.

Answer

Clinical burnout.

Answer

A typical countertransference reaction.

Answer

Professional incompetence.

A client arrives at a community mental health center in a highly agitated state, pacing, speaking loudly, and clenching their fists.They are expressing extreme frustration about a recent eviction notice.What is the counselor's IMMEDIATE priority?

A client arrives at a community mental health center in a highly agitated state, pacing, speaking loudly, and clenching their fists.
They are expressing extreme frustration about a recent eviction notice.
What is the counselor's IMMEDIATE priority?