"What makes you, breaks you and ... what breaks you, makes you." Major Erik De Soir begins a series on psychosocial crisis intervention with military and emergency services personnel. Acutely stressful operations are an unavoidable element of military and civilian emergency services' duties. Nevertheless, these potentially traumatic experiences constitute a major occupational hazard that needs to be recognised and responded to. Crisis intervention can prevent or reduce long term psychosocial impairment and maintain the effectiveness of these workers. This series will address the conditions that raise psychosocial risk among military and emergency services personnel, along with the principles of effective and timely interventions. Examples of both preventative and healing interventions will illustrate how these principles can be converted into effective actions. The author draws conclusions on the most effective elements of these interventions and offers recommendations for implementing similar solutions in emerging crises. Photo courtesy of the author The full text appears in Volume 2 Issue 4 of the Crisis Response Journal. Click here for further details