[The "proactive" approach and crisis intervention]

In this article, the author describes a mode of intervention defined as proactive in mental health care, in the case of an existing pilot project. This type of intervention contrasts with the reactive mode, which is characterized by reactions to urgent requests for services when a situation has deteriorated badly and social network resources are either absent or irrelevant. The author outlines the obstacles to developing such a proactive mode. This approach, which requires a high degree of visibility and accessibility on the part of the practitioner, involves providing services before they are even requested. Finally, the author examines certain types of proactive interventions whose objective is to offer support to members that are close to the individual.