School-based helpers are helping professionals who work within educational settings and whose training and primary responsibility is to promote the mental health of students. Few resource materials provide these helpers with needed information and practical strategies--this text tries to meet that need. The 12 chapters here cover a wide range of prevention and crisis strategies. It is intended that the utilization of these prevention strategies will reduce the number of students requiring crisis counseling and crisis intervention. The intervention strategies are practical ideas that school-based helpers and other school personnel can employ to assist students experiencing various types of crises. Strategies are also described for working with students who are responding to crises in maladaptive ways. The text opens with a discussion of the school-based helper's role in crisis intervention. Other issues that are discussed include the following: separation and divorce; stepfamilies; students with disabilities and their families; abused and neglected students; substance abuse; death and grief in the school setting; managing violent and disruptive students; suicide intervention; eating disorders; crisis counseling with pregnant teens; and understanding and managing stress. Each chapter provides a list of curricular materials, assessment instruments, suggested readings, and names of resource agencies and organizations. Includes an author and a subject index. (RJM)