This guide for counselors describes the Critical Events Interview (CEI), a new counseling technique designed to be used with women in transition. The concept of critical events and their influence on adult development is described and the history and current status of the CEI are reviewed, along with current results of CEI evaluations and descriptions of its use in counselor training. Detailed information is provided to enable counseling practitioners to use the technique. Applications of the CEI, descriptions of the informational categories, and guidelines for administering the CEI in counseling are discussed. The contents and processes of the CEI are related to a range of counseling perspectives, and reviewed from a behavioral, psychoanalytic, and phenomenological/existential framework. Developmental approaches are also discussed, as in the influence of feminist therapy. The appendix includes sample CEI formats which may be duplicated for use in practice and training, and examples of completed CEI's. (JAC)