The ex-con's return home can be viewed as a potential crisis, wherein attempts to assist him in a successful transition can be helpful. From a group of first felonists about to be released on parole, 18 matched pairs were identified. One member of each pair was randomly selected and offered intensive outreach crisis counseling; the second member of each pair became a control subject. Although small, consistent negative findings were observed, data analysis suggests that positive outcomes were associated with counseling of poorer quality. It appears likely, however, that much of the counseling was of too poor a quality to be an important factor in the client's adjustment. Reasons for this low level of service include overestimation of the ex-con's "re-entry crisis," the unique difficulties inherent in outreach counseling, counselor inexperience and inadequate program funding. Intensive crisis counseling, with certain modifications in method, could be an effective means of reducing recidivism among recently released convicts. A new theoretical conception of crisis suggests that the person in crisis must also be in a state of "searching" for crisis intervention to have its special impact. (Author)