Exploring the Relationship Needs of Service Users During Crisis Interventions: A Qualitative Study

People in crisis sometimes seek professional support, and the relationship between service users and professionals is crucial in overcoming the crisis. To understand the relationship needs of people in crisis, 29 semi-structured interviews with service users were conducted and analyzed using a grounded-theory approach. The findings reveal that people in crisis seek a professional who is there for them, recognizes the crisis as an emergency and a solvable situation, treats them with respect, and offers individual support. Furthermore, there needs to be a general fit between professionals, the support services, and service users for a supportive relationship to be established. However, two main aspects were discovered where service users differ depending on the resources they can access during the crisis: While people with access to many resources seek a rather distant and egalitarian relationship, those with access to fewer resources prefer more intimate and hierarchical relationships with professionals.