[3] Her father emigrated to New York City in 1928, in part due to "increased antisemitism and resurgent German nationalism.
At the age of 19 she earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from Hunter College, where she was Phi Beta Kappa.
[3] Following an accelerated graduate course, she earned her master's degree from the Smith College School for Social Work at 21 in 1944.
She began her associates with University of California, Berkeley as a field supervisor for their students before becoming a faculty member a year later and full professor in 1969.
She identified the goals of crisis intervention: relief of symptoms, restoration of precrisis functioning, understanding of precipitants, and identification of remedial measures.