Evidence-Based Practice
Living Room Crisis Counseling (LRCC)
The Living Room is a practical, evidence-informed model of crisis counseling that helps behavioral health professionals respond effectively to emotional and psychiatric crises — including suicidal ideation, self-harm risk, panic, psychosis, trauma-related distress, and grief — while promoting engagement, recovery, and appropriate use of higher levels of care.
About This Practice
What is Living Room Crisis Counseling?
Many clinicians receive extensive training in crisis assessment and risk management, but comparatively little training in what to do therapeutically once a crisis has been identified. The Living Room closes that gap with a structured, two-step counseling framework: first, human supportive listening that helps the person feel heard and safe; then targeted skills teaching and active support drawn from DBT, Motivational Interviewing, and Solution-Focused approaches.
In its initial implementation at UT Health San Antonio, the Living Room was associated with substantial emergency department diversion, an estimated $272,000 in annual healthcare savings, and high patient satisfaction — with trainees performing comparably to licensed clinicians after completing the training.
Below you can find more information about the Living Room Foundations and Living Room + Suicide Risk Assessment and Safety Planning Intensive courses we offer.
Training Formats
Select Your Training
Living Rooms Foundations
- Duration: 1 day
- Training offered on-site (your location or ours) or virtually
- Certificate of completion awarded at the conclusion of the course
This course covers introducing the Living Room crisis counseling model — including the Two-Step framework, crisis engagement, assessment, and DBT- and Motivational Interviewing–informed intervention strategies. Ideal for building core crisis counseling skills across your team. The course can be customized to your needs. To request an in-person training, contact us. CEUs available upon request.
Living Room & Suicide Risk Assessment and Safety Planning
- Duration: 1.5 days
- Training offered on-site (your location or ours) or virtually
- Certificate of completion awarded at the conclusion of the course
This course covers combining Living Room crisis counseling with Suicide Risk Assessment and Safety Planning, an evidence-based approach to suicide risk assessment and safety planning. Includes role plays and implementation planning for teams ready to go deeper. The course can be customized to your needs. To request an in-person training, contact us. CEUs available upon request.
Need Guidance?
Not sure which training format is right for your team? We're happy to help you find the best fit.
Curriculum Highlights
What You'll Learn
- Core principles and structure of the Living Room crisis counseling model
- How to engage individuals experiencing emotional and psychiatric crises
- Strategies for balancing supportive following with active coping
- Evidence-informed counseling techniques for reducing emotional distress
- How to integrate crisis response with existing treatment and recovery goals
- Approaches for supporting continuity of care following a crisis
Evidence Base
Demonstrated Outcomes
Emergency Department Diversion
The Living Room model has demonstrated substantial diversion from emergency department care by providing timely, focused crisis counseling in a familiar outpatient setting.
Reduced Healthcare Costs
Initial implementation was associated with an estimated $272,000 in annual diversion-related healthcare savings, demonstrating the potential value of effective outpatient crisis intervention.
Effective, Sustainable Crisis Care
New interns trained in the Living Room model demonstrated outcomes comparable to licensed clinicians while maintaining high patient satisfaction, supporting a practical and scalable approach to crisis response.