Domain D5 · Managing Crisis Situations · 16% of the exam
Managing Crisis Situations: risk, safety, abuse, violence, and legally mandated action
Outline: draftBy The Licensure Professor
Study material in progress. This is a lesson outline, not finished lesson text. Nothing on this page is official exam content. Items were written for this site and checked against published sources. They have not yet been reviewed by a licensed marriage and family therapist.
Learning objectives
- Assess suicide and violence risk with a structured approach.
- Recognize and respond to intimate partner violence and child and elder abuse.
- Apply safety planning and know when mandated reporting applies.
- Manage a crisis in a conjoint session without losing safety or the alliance.
Key terms
- Suicide risk assessment
- Safety plan
- Intimate partner violence
- Mandated reporting
- Duty to protect
- Crisis intervention
- Lethal means counseling
Suggested sources
- Posner, K., Brown, G. K., Stanley, B., Brent, D. A., Yershova, K. V., Oquendo, M. A., Currier, G. W., Melvin, G. A., Greenhill, L., Shen, S., & Mann, J. J. (2011). The Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale: Initial validity and internal consistency findings from three multisite studies with adolescents and adults. American Journal of Psychiatry, 168(12), 1266-1277. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2011.10111704
- James, R. K., & Gilliland, B. E. (2017). Crisis intervention strategies (8th ed.). Cengage.
- American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. (2026). AAMFT code of ethics (effective January 1, 2026). https://www.aamft.org/common/Uploaded%20files/Legal%20Ethics/AAMFT%20Code%20of%20Ethics.pdf
- American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). American Psychiatric Association Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787
- Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards. (2026). AMFTRB MFT national examination handbook for candidates (2027 ed.). https://ptcny.com/pdf/AMFTRB.pdf
Ethics content on this section follows the AAMFT Code of Ethics (American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy).