Cognitive Behavioral Process In Crisis Intervention

Description of Crisis

Discuss about the Cognitive Behavioral Process in Crisis Intervention.

Crisis is a situation when an individual or a group or an organisation goes through an expected or unexpected happening of an event which brings some sort of changes, shock or negativity in their day-to-day life. The idea to deal with such kind of situations is known as Crisis Intervention. This helps in coming out of a disturbing life and in leading positive life again. People who provide with such kind of crisis assistance are known as Crisis Intervention Counsellor (worker) or Human Service Workers. They are the ones whom should be contacted during the situations of stress (trauma) and post trauma so that they can provide their best of help in coming out of it (France & Weikel, 2014).  

Further will be discussed the topics: description of Crisis and Crisis Intervention, crisis impact on person’s functioning, description of 7-task hybrid model, the challenges in implementation of the model and ways to overcome them. This will help in knowing better the state of mind of a person going through stressful situation and the impact of the same on their functioning.

Crisis can be explained as a critical and stressful situation which leads to depression, distress and unrest to one’s mind and body. It can occur in individuals, groups or organizations (Roberts & Ottens, 2005). The cause of crisis can be any event which was lethal, traumatic or was full of distress. At the same time the individual was unable to cope / deal with the situation and come out of it and also according to their perception it was an event of great loss. Crisis Intervention is basically the solutions which can be provided to the individuals or anyone going through the crisis situation or any kind of sensitive, bodily or psychological problems. Crisis workers are the ones who provide assistance to such individuals in order to help them in changing their negative perception into positive perception towards work, people or life. Crisis Intervention helps the person to solve the problem. The central aim of crisis intervention is to bring back the client (victim) back to the normal functional level. It helps the client to hold back from going into a deep trauma situation because if the person is not brought back from that phase then it can be disastrous as the person can go into a suicidal, violent or psychosomatic phase which can lead to another big loss (Dattilio & Freeman, 2007).

Crisis impact on person’s functioning

A crisis worker should be able to make out that what is making the person get affected and what type of crisis is doing so. It can be noticed by their gestures, behaviour, feelings and functioning (Yeager & Roberts, 2015). Observing their behaviour will tell you about their current frame of mind. Crisis can affect a person in many ways like when a person goes into long term shock, finds it very difficult to face people, goes into isolation, frustration, hopeless about life, finds it really tough to cope with day to day activities etc. Crisis happens when one faces situations like death of loved one, any kind of irrecoverable physical illness, insolvency, loss or hating of job, feeling of powerlessness. It leads to both physical and mental disorders like downheartedness, worry, self-hatred, overthinking, intolerance, lack of motivation, tiredness, improper eating habits, pain, loss of sleep, restlessness (Potter,et al., 2017).

The impact of crisis on a person’s functioning can be discussed by understanding the ABC Model of crisis intervention. This model has three steps: Achieving rapport, boiling the problem and then finally coping. In the very first step the crisis counsellor needs to cultivate a bond with the client in order to get to know all minor details of the event which has brought the client in the stress situation. The counsellor can build a sense of understanding by listening to the client patiently and attentively, by asking the right kind of questions (open ended or close ended) which will give the answers that are needed to have a deep insight of the client’s feelings and thereafter providing proper advices or solutions to the client through which the client will be able to deal with the emotional instability and imbalance (France, 2007). The counsellor should also again elucidate what has been understood from their conversation very gently so that there is no such part that has been overlooked by he counsellor. This will also help the counsellor to clear all the misperceptions and get a richer understanding.

 In the second step the counsellor should deeply examine the problem. The counsellor will get to know about how much intensely the client is affected by the happening of the event. The level of emotional stress and how much difficult it is to get back to normal. The worker must keep an eye on the behaviour of the client and should notice activities like breathing, listening power of the client, alertness, how calm the person is, withdraws from the middle of the conversation, trying to run out of situation or not and also keep check of the tendencies of the client to attempt suicide or if can be destructive to others.

ABC Model

  In the third step the worker needs to help the client to cope up with the problem which can be done by investing the client into the thoughts full of life. In order to encourage the client to survive with the crisis, it is essential to suggest with more ideas to hack the situation. It is very essential that the effort has to be from both the sides of the counsellor as well as the client. This stage also deals with the idea of the client to look at things differently (Kanel, 2015).

The very first task is Predispositioning / Engaging / initiating contact: This step explains the opening of the interaction between the client and the counsellor (James & Gilliland, 2013). The more comfortable they both (client and counsellor) will be the more better it will be for them. The introduction is very important aspect of this step because the counsellor should be very friendly while introducing. Also the counsellor should always start the conversation as it will make the foundation of their rapport stronger.

The second task is exploring the problem which is very important task of the counsellor. The whole problem should be understood from client’s angle because it is important to know what client thinks about the problem and what all has brought the client into such situation also the reasons which are not allowing the person to come out of it (James & Gilliland, 2013).  

The third task is of providing support to the client in whatever way needed to resolve the problem and what all support systems are available and to what extent the counsellor is required to act as the centre support to the client.

The fourth task is to examine all the alternatives which the client is not able to see and feels oneself trapped in a vicious circle of problems. Alternatives can be examining of different support systems which can be people, environment, things and optimistic thinking. People who are concerned for the client can be a good option to help the client in dealing and coming out of the crisis. The client and the counsellor should not find more and more alternatives but only just one real practical option which can get them through (James & Gilliland, 2013).

The fifth task is making plans i.e. to implement the best chosen alternative (s) in task 4 into planning pipeline and then preparing for action. The counsellor should select the best alternative which will bring back the client into the normal mode of life. The counsellor should consistently escort the client to move on with the plan, the client should never develop a feeling of loneliness otherwise the whole procedure will go in vain.

Description of 7-task hybrid Model

The sixth task is to obtain commitment from the client which can be in the verbal or written form which will prove that the client has accepted the idea to resolve the crisis and at the same time is dedicated to so (James & Gilliland, 2013).

The seventh and the last task is the follow-up of the plan taken upon by the counsellor and the client to resolve the crisis. The follow-up tenure cannot be decided for particular hours, days, weeks instead it is a long-term procedure which should be taken care of by the worker when started and must also make sure that the plan is functioning. This will also bring back the balance state of mind of the client (James & Gilliland, 2013).

The challenges which the client and the counsellor will face are to make harmony with a person who is stranger to you moreover, during such crucial time when the client is not at all comfortable to make a rapport with anyone unknown. Crisis worker should know the suicidal, homicidal or abusive instinct of the client so that the worker feels safe during the sessions of crisis intervention. Also the person should be aware enough about when to approach a crisis worker at times when it is needed.

The person (victim) should not at all be hesitant in doing so and at the same time the effort should also come from his/her side because it will be helpful in resolving the problem (Kfir, 2014). Developing the interest of the client in positive activities and building back the motivation of the client to normal and investing oneself in those tasks which will pull him/her out of that problem instead of thinking about destructive thoughts.

All this can only be done by the help of the crisis worker. Coordination between the client and the counsellor should be very firm so that the counsellor should be able to understand with client’s viewpoint and the client should give full support to the counsellor in solving all his/her problems (Cavaiola & Colford, 2011).

To deal with the above challenges the effort needs to initiate from both the sides of the client and the counsellor (Greenstone & Leviton, 2011). Basically, both need to stand in each other’s shoes and then they will be able to deal with situations properly. This can be done by taking sessions in calm and pleasant environment like parks, churches, NGOs so that the counsellor can make the client feel different and pleased.

Counsellor can organise meetings with the people who are close to the client and get more detailed information about his/her behaviour, likes, dislikes, the summary of the crisis event so that it will help the counsellor to go prepared with the homework to meet the client and this will definitely help the counsellor in better understanding of the client. Counsellor can ask for the story of the event from client as this will make the client even more comfortable in talking about it. Friendly behaviour of the counsellor will take the intervention process a step forward in solving the crisis situation.

The counsellor should make his/her own interpretation of the whole conversation and take down all the important points which he/she feels will help him/her in solving the client’s problem. With all these steps the client will cultivate a sense of belongingness and confidence with the counsellor. And finally this will ensure a smooth running of the crisis intervention process.

Conclusion

The above essay concludes about what crisis is and what is its impact on an individual’s functioning i.e. day-to-day life and ways to deal with it. Crisis Intervention is important to tackle situations of crisis through ABC model and the 7-task hybrid model. The 7-task model should be followed in overcoming a crisis problem. There will be challenges during the whole process but there are ways discussed to resolve them.

References

Cavaiola, A, A & Colford, J, E. (2011). Crisis Intervention Case Book. Brooks Cole. Belmont, USA. 

Dattilio, F ,M & Freeman, A. (2007). Cognitive-Behavioral Strategies in Crisis Intervention. (ed, 3^rd). The Guildford Press. New York, USA.

France, K & Weikel, K. (2014). Helping Skills for Human Service Workers. (ed, 3^rd). Charles C Thomas. Publisher Ltd. Springfield, USA.

France, K. (2007). Crisis Intervention: A Handbook of Immediate Person-to-Person Help. (ed, 5^th). Charles C Thomas. Publisher Ltd. Springfield, USA. 

Greenstone, J, L & Leviton, S, C. (2011). Elements of Crisis Intervention: Crisis and How to Respond to Them. (ed, 3^rd). Brooks Cole. Belmont, USA.  

James, K, R & Gilliland, B. (2013). Crisis Intervention Strategies. (ed, 7^th). Brooks Cole. Belmont, USA.

Kanel, K. (2015). A guide to Crisis Intervention. (ed, 3^rd). Cengage Learning. Stamford, USA.

Kfir, N. (2014). Crisis Intervention Verbatim. J.P. Tarcher. Inc. Los Angeles, USA.

Potter, P, A, Perry, A, G, Stockhert, P, A & Amy, A, M. (2017). Fundamentals of Nursing. (ed, 9^th). Elsevier. St Louis, Missouri.

Roberts, A, R. & Ottens, A, J. (2005). Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervetion. Vol.5. No.4, pp: 329-339.

Yeager, K, R & Roberts, A, R. (2015). Crisis Intervention handbook. (ed, 4^th). Oxford University Press. New York, USA.