Crisis telephone counselors' views of clinical interaction situations

A survey was conducted to determine the degree of frequency and degree of comfort that paraprofessional telephone crisis counselors experience in a variety of clinical interaction situations. An inventory of 100 separate clinical interactions was completed by a sample of crisis counselors. Results indicate that 32 of the 100 situations received ratings suggestive of high levels scene calls, client anger towards the counselor, client expression of positive affect towards the counselor, client resistance, physical and sexual abuse, and anger towards others. Implications of these data for planning future training, supervision and in-service training activities are discussed.