ASWB Clinical Crisis, Trauma & Case Management Practice Questions
Crisis, Trauma & Case Management makes up 4 of every 50 questions on a Tigertest ASWB Clinical practice test. Here are 10 of the 16 questions on it, each with the answer and the reason.
Updated by the Tigertest team. Based on the ASWB Clinical content outline (2026 Examination Guidebook). Original questions; 50 per test, weighted like the real exam. Not affiliated with ASWB.
1. In Roberts's seven-stage crisis intervention model, the FIRST stage is to:
- A.Arrange follow-up contact
- B.Assess lethality and safety
- C.Develop an action plan
- D.Explore the client's feelings
Answer: B. Roberts's model begins with a psychosocial and lethality assessment, then rapport, identifying major problems, exploring feelings, generating alternatives, an action plan and follow-up.
2. Which is one of SAMHSA's six key principles of a trauma-informed approach?
- A.Strict rules for every client
- B.Exposure in the first session
- C.Rapid diagnosis and referral
- D.Trust and transparency
Answer: D. SAMHSA's principles are safety; trustworthiness and transparency; peer support; collaboration and mutuality; empowerment, voice and choice; and cultural, historical and gender issues.
3. A safety plan for a client at risk of suicide, in the Stanley-Brown model, begins with:
- A.Recognizing personal warning signs
- B.Calling a family member each night
- C.Signing a no-suicide contract
- D.Listing local psychiatric hospitals
Answer: A. The safety plan lists warning signs, internal coping strategies, people and places for distraction, people to ask for help, professionals and crisis lines, and making the environment safer. No-suicide contracts are not supported by evidence.
4. A palliative care referral differs from a hospice referral because palliative care:
- A.Is only for patients over 65
- B.Is given only in the final week
- C.Can start at any stage of illness
- D.Requires stopping curative treatment
Answer: C. Palliative care relieves symptoms and stress at any stage of a serious illness, alongside curative treatment. Hospice is palliative care for people who have stopped curative treatment near the end of life.
5. A widow, 18 months after her husband's death, cannot accept it, feels life is meaningless and has stopped all activities. The clinician should:
- A.Advise her to sell their house
- B.Wait another year before acting
- C.Assess for complicated grief
- D.Reassure her it will pass soon
Answer: C. Intense, impairing grief long after a death may be prolonged or complicated grief, which responds to targeted treatment. Simple reassurance does not address it.
6. A program offers people who are chronically homeless a permanent apartment without first requiring sobriety or treatment. This approach is:
- A.Housing First
- B.A sober living home
- C.A shelter-first model
- D.Transitional housing
Answer: A. Housing First provides permanent housing with voluntary support services, on the view that stable housing is the base for recovery. It is a harm reduction approach with strong evidence for housing retention.
7. A client who injects drugs is not ready to stop. A harm reduction clinician would MOST likely:
- A.Make sobriety a condition of help
- B.Refuse services until she stops
- C.Report her use to the police
- D.Teach safer use and overdose care
Answer: D. Harm reduction meets the client where she is and reduces risk: sterile supplies, fentanyl test strips, naloxone and never using alone, while keeping the door open to treatment.
8. A client becomes verbally abusive and yells at the clinician during a session. The BEST first response is to:
- A.Ignore the behavior entirely
- B.Stay calm and set a clear limit
- C.Raise her voice to show authority
- D.End services on the spot
Answer: B. Calm, respectful limit setting names the behavior and its expected change while keeping the relationship. Safety comes first if the client escalates toward violence.
9. A case manager coordinates a client's psychiatric, medical and housing services. Her MAIN goal is to:
- A.Reduce the client's contact with others
- B.Link services into one coordinated plan
- C.Deliver every service herself
- D.Choose the client's providers
Answer: B. Case management assesses needs, plans, links the client to services, monitors them and advocates, so that care from several providers fits together around the client's goals.
10. A client being discharged from an inpatient psychiatric unit is at HIGHEST risk of suicide during:
- A.The middle of the inpatient stay
- B.The year after he finishes therapy
- C.The first day of admission only
- D.The first weeks after discharge
Answer: D. Suicide risk is especially high in the days and weeks after psychiatric discharge, so discharge planning includes a follow-up appointment within days, a safety plan and outreach contact.
Practice all 16 crisis, trauma & case management questions, and the rest of the 200-question bank, in the free ASWB Clinical training sets. Questions you miss come back until you have mastered them.
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