Crisis Counseling: A Guide for Pastors and Professionals

I have read the whole book and it has been added to the resources I will be using in my crisis counseling Ministry. The book is written in a simple and easy to understand style. The author first defines and explains concepts like crisis, loss, trauma, and others, and then goes ahead and explains how a helper should help those undergoing the explained difficulties. I enjoyed the book and I definitely recommend it to every crisis counselor and Christian minister.

Excellent resource for anyone involved in assisting people following crisis and even traumatic situations! This work by Dr. Scott Floyd brings clarity to crisis, trauma and grieving by definition, and then is followed up with the pragmatic. "A Guide for Pastors," absolutely! While the idea of grieving is most often connected with the idea of the loss of a loved one through death. Some pastors may be surprised as they discover through Dr. Floyd's study, "This is what I do most of the time as a pastor." Helping individuals progress through change of many different types of situations. Personally for me, this book connected and put together several aspects of my role as a pastor in caring for people.

This is a very readable introduction to the importance of crisis counseling in a variety of ministry settings. It is especially useful for pastors, teachers, attorneys and others who don't define themselves first and foremost as "counselors" but who routinely encounter people in crisis. That said, it can be very repetitive in places and does not devote enough space to the "routine" crises of daily life -- most pastors will encounter far more individuals who have lost a loved one in death or divorce or have lost their jobs than they will victims of mass shootings. However, it's a valuable book and fills a gap in the training of those in ministry and other helping professions.

Purchased this book as a text book. It is very well written and if you have an interest in this topic it is a very good book to add to your library. Scott Floyd uses his expertise to lay out the important keys of assessing when a person is in crisis and when they are not. It is loaded with information pastors and lay ministers need to be more effective in their ministry to those who are hurting. Over all it is a good book. It is an asset to anyone in ministry who desires to help people in crisis.

Dr. Floyd's book covers the field - a short course in theory and practice of crisis counseling. It's strengths are several, one of which is breadth rather than depth. If you want everything that's ever been written on the subject, go buy a library. If you want grounding and an excellent bibliography for your further reading, this is your book. His chapters on the major age-groups are excellent, as are his introductory chapters on crisis, trauma, loss, and grief as well as the chapter on caring for caregivers. We've adopted it for our training seminars on First Response Ministry because of its information and wisdom. I personally think it's a bit too conservative in its approach to the Bible; but who's perfect? Check it out - it'll do you, and the people you work with, a lot of good.

The appendix has some great information that might be vital for anyone to have. The rest of the book in certain chapters seems to be a bit boring and to myself aggravating. There were a couple of chapters that I felt like the book repeated itself on one page and then again just 1-2 pages later. Almost like my undergraduate writing assignments where I just wrote to meet the requirements for the paper length. It seems like there was a lot of "fluff" and I was hoping for more "meat" than what is presented in some chapters.Towards the end of the book the psychology aspects talked about in the development of the brain with children to adolescent years was well put together and interesting. The Crisis team information is incredibly vital that its almost worth buying the whole book just for it and the information in appendix d.

Pretty comprehensive book for those dealing with trauma care

Great practical advice for any clinician, lay person, or pastor. If you are human you will eventually have contact with someone in crisis. This is a great guide for anyone who simply wants to better care for someone going through a major event in their life. It will certainly enhance your practice - whether you are a novice or expert. Clear, concise, and practical (I know, I have already said practical, but really - it is!).

Has excellent information as to how to deal with many types of crisis situations.