Focusing on how someone in need can best be helped, the author identifies the skills and honesty of the practitioner as key to how effective this can be. Looking in detail at the nature of boundaries, the willingness of the practitioner to speak from a place of authenticity and to be honestly present to the experience of the individual person, and the sensitive and economical use of language, the author shows how people in a state of deep personal crisis can be richly helped. Taking the view that no set response is always right or always wrong, he argues strongly for the importance of going with what is spontaneous and real in the moment, and responding thoughtfully and with integrity to the experience of the person in need.

The book is an inspiration to develop deep awareness about the practice of encounter. The author provides many in-depth case examples, and sample scripts with actual questions and answers included, in the hope that this short and deceptively simple book may serve to raise the awareness of, and broaden the range of, possible interventions for the open-minded reader.