The august group of scholars who developed the recommendations and co–wrote the article “Five Essential Elements of Immediate and Mid–Term Mass Trauma Intervention: Empirical Evidence” took on a very daunting task. They have attempted, in the absence of a clear model, to distill from decades of research on coping, disaster, and general psychology, a set of recommendations about the goals for immediate and shorter term intervention in the face of mass violence or disaster. This article does a wonderful job pulling together, from the best information and best experts available, the basic components that should comprise psychosocial intervention in the aftermath of disasters and mass violence: to promote a sense of safety, calming, self– and community efficacy, connectness, and hope. An overarching model for basic achievable goals has been needed ever since mental health professionals began trying to assist in disaster response in the 1980s. For decades, mental health professionals have wanted to help in times of disaster, and they frequently traveled to disaster locations to provide the best counseling/therapy they had available. They often arrive assuming that someone is in charge, will tell them how they can help, and put them to work. They come armed with compassion and eagerness to help but no sense of whether or how they are needed or what they should do. They often find themselves in chaotic situations where there is no one in charge, or at least no one who seems to know anything about mental health needs in this type of situation. Some end up doing what other disaster workers are doing, assisting with the delivery of basic resources such food and water; some serve as good listeners if someone wants to talk. Some attempt to do therapy or counseling. In the absence of a good model of intervention, mental health professionals may fall back onto what they have been trained in most, the study and treatment of psychopathology. What was notably absent in “Five Essential Elements” was the delivery of traditional psychotherapy in the immediate and mid–term phases post–trauma as a standard intervention. The focus here was on primary and secondary prevention and community-level interventions. What is the role of mental health professionals in these situations, especially if they have been trained in clinical psychology or psychiatry with its emphasis on individual psychopathology, Psychiatry 70(4) Winter 2007 350