1. 10 Principles of Crisis
Intervention
Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes Ph.D., LMHC, LPC-MHSP
Executive Director, AllCEUs.com
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2. Objectives
Define crisis
Identify the 6 basic threats and how they relate to crisis
Discuss characteristics of crisis
Examine cultural influences in behaviors
Explore the SAFERR model
Identify 10 principles of crisis intervention
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3. Definition of Crisis
People are facing an untenable obstacle to goals
People’s life cycles are significantly disrupted
AND
The person has no appropriate response to deal with a
situation
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4. Temperament
Defines how we tend to prefer to act and interact.
Extrovert/Introvert (Awareness/Socialization)
Sensing/Intuitive (Problem Conceptualization)
Thinking/Feeling (Meaning)
Judging/Perceiving (Structure/Spontaneity)
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5. Characteristics of Crisis
Presence of opportunity and danger
Change causes crisis and crisis causes change
Increasing anxiety can lead to violent reactions
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6. Characteristics of Crisis
Complicated
Generally does not have one simple cause
Beliefs may be operating when an emotion or reaction seems
out of proportion
Precipitating events may impact many different areas of life
No Panaceas or Quick Fixes
May provide temporary, immediate relief
Ensure they do not make problem worse
Necessity of Choice
Making a choice requires action
Choosing not to act is a still a choice
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9. Exacerbating & Mitigating Cont…
Social:
Lack of healthy, supportive social environment
Spiritual
Sense of interconnectedness and connection to something
bigger than ourselves
What gives hope, faith, meaning and courage
What are a person’s values
Environmental
Visual triggers
Auditory triggers
Audience
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10. 6 Basic Threats
Fear and anger represent responses to a threat
Threats to consider in assessment
The unknown
Loss of control or power
Rejection
Isolation
Failure
Death
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11. Models of Crisis Intervention
Equilibrium/Stabilization
Remove reinforcers for aggressive behavior
Identify reasons to calm down
Cognitive
Gain control by changing thinking
Psychosocial
Assess internal and external exacerbating and mitigating
factors
Choose workable alternatives
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12. Cultural Competence
There is no one “normal” range of behaviors
Individualistic vs. collectivistic society
Language is not always interpreted in the same way
We must accommodate the client’s needs
Past history certainly impacts current events
Be aware of personal assumptions
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14. Stabilize
Ensure Safety
Physical
Remove the client from the situation (if possible)
Inform client you want to help, but it is hard for you to focus
while… Propose solution that does not take away his power
Psychological
Remove bystanders (an audience also adds fuel)
Reframe the situation with client not being “bad.”
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15. Stabilize
Assess (ABCs)
Affective state
Behavioral Functioning
Cognitive Functioning
Severity of the crisis
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16. Acknowledge
Define the problem
Seek help from the client in understanding what is going on
Listen to identify the person’s orientation
Feelings or solutions (MBTI)
Visual, auditory, kinesthetic
Empathize to see the problem as the client does
Ask open-ended questions
Pay attention to verbal and nonverbal messages
Acknowledge the situation and/or the client’s feelings
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17. Facilitate Understanding
Own your feelings
Be aware of transference and countertransference
reactions
What do you represent to that person
What is that person triggering in you
Convey understanding
Don’t say “I understand”
Don’t assure the person everything is going to be alright.
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18. Facilitate Understanding
Provide positive reinforcement for behaviors
Avoid value judgments
Set limits and do not tolerate controlling or aggressive
behavior
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19. Encourage Adaptive Coping
What thoughts, reactions and behaviors help you get
closer to a rich and meaningful life
Reduce tunnel vision or increase focus to things that are
meaningful to the person
This is a really awful situation right now. You keep
mentioning your kids. Tell me a bit more about them.
Examine Alternatives
Supports
Coping Mechanisms
Thinking Patterns
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20. Restore Functioning
Promote Mobilization
Make plans
Implement Order
Obtain commitment with assertion statements
I need you to…
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21. Refer
Medical/psychiatric
Medication
Support groups
Vocational counseling
Legal assistance (DV, Child Welfare, Divorce,
Bankruptcy)
Specialized counseling
Childcare/Respite care
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22. Summary
Change causes crisis
Crisis is a state of extreme anxiety
It is important to “hear” the client
Help the client
Re-establish equilibrium
Identify environmental and social supports
Develop a plan
Take action
SAFER-R Model
Stabilize
Acknowledge
Facilitate understanding
Encourage adaptive coping
Restore functioning or,
Refer
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23. Summary
1. Crisis represents the presence of opportunity and danger and necessitates choice
2. Crisis is complicated there are no panaceas/quick fixes
3. Persons in crisis are initially at high risk for maladaptive coping or immobilization.
4. Emotional, mental, physical, social, environmental and spiritual factors can exacerbate or
mitigate crisis
5. Crisis intervention involves regaining equilibrium, gaining control of thoughts(wise mind)
and identifying and choosing workable alternatives
6. There is no one "normal" range of behaviors
7. Crisis impacts the person emotionally, cognitively, physically, socially, environmentally and
physically
8. Resource mobilization should be immediate in order to provide persons in crisis with the
tools they need to return to some sort of order and normalcy,
9. Facilitating understanding of the event by processing the situation or trauma helps the
person gain a better understanding of what has occurred and allowing him or her to express
feeling about the experience.
10. Problem solving within the context of their situation and feelings is necessary for developing
self-efficacy and self-reliance.
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24. Me, Me, Me: I am the sole cause of
every problem I encounter
Strength: Taking responsibility
– Accept responsibility for your actions
– Determine the appropriate level of personal
responsibility
– Examine all the contributing factors
– Limit self-criticism
Thinking Trap 1
25. Always, Always, Always: Believing that
problems are unchangeable and I have
little or no control over them
Intervention
Conduct a problem analysis
Identify what you can and can’t change
Develop a plan of action
Accept reality: “Embracing the bad”
Thinking Error 2
26. Them, Them, Them: Outside
circumstances cause of every problem
Intervention
Assess the cause of problems
Accurately identify factors that contributed
to the problem
Look at the facts
Examine how you may have contributed
Thinking Error 3
28. Jumping to conclusions despite having
little or no evidence to support it
Intervention
Understand complex events
Review events objectively
Realistically appraise situations
Acknowledge personal limits in preventing
problems
Thinking Error 5
29. What Ifs and Shoulds
Intervention
Facilitate acceptance
Remember that change takes time
Be aware of memories/grudges/resentments
Talk it out/Write it out
Focus on what I can control
Thinking Error 6
Editor's Notes
MRT Instructor:
Key Points:
What behaviors demonstrate that you are taking responsibility?
[Slide builds.] The first strength we want to discuss is taking responsibility. What’s the difference between taking responsibility and criticizing yourself too much for what’s going on? Can you criticize yourself so much that it’s destructive? Army research has found that civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan who use self-criticism are less resilient.
Another civilian skill is looking at how the situation contributed to an event.
How can you limit criticism of yourself after you make a mistake? Use the “one time – one thing” strategy of providing yourself quick feedback, without letting self-criticism overwhelm you.
-- Limit criticism to thinking about one event that happened one time (“I do everything wrong” should be “I did this thing wrong this one time”).
5. What are other ways civilians demonstrate they take responsibility?
MRT Instructor:
Key Points:
What behaviors demonstrate that you can conduct an effective mission analysis?
[Slide builds.] The key is to distinguish between what can and can’t be changed, develop a plan of action for what can be changed and accept what can’t be changed.
There’s even a phrase for this acceptance in the military – “embrace the suck”. Ask for an example when someone embraced the suck and how this acceptance made things easier.
MRT Instructor:
Key Points:
What behaviors have you been doing that demonstrate that you are accurately assessing the cause of problems ?
[Slide builds] Key points are that the civilian looks at all the facts contributing to a situation. The civilian examines how they may have contributed, but also consider how the situation and other factors influenced events. They are objective and look at the problem as a whole.
What are other ways civilians demonstrate their ability to accurately assess the cause of problems?
MRT Instructor:
Key Points:
What behaviors demonstrate that you can build cohesive friendships/teams? Build relationships?
[Slide builds] How do civilians in cohesive units take care of each other? (listen for themes of joking around together, spending time together, being non-judgmental, supporting each other, covering for/watching out for each other , talking with each other)
civilians know how to talk about what’s important to their Battle Buddies.
What other ways do civilians show they know how to build cohesion?
MRT Instructor:
Key Points:
What behaviors demonstrate that civilians are good at understanding complex events?
[Slide builds]: How does reviewing events objectively and realistically appraising situations help civilians understand complex events? What role does an AAR play in identifying other perspectives on complex events? Have AARs ever helped you understand an event better?
What behaviors show civilians understand that there are personal limits in preventing critical events? Discuss how complex events are usually the result of a series of crises, not one simple error traced back to one person. How does your deployment experience help you understand the situational reality that sometimes things go wrong?
MRT Instructor:
Key Points:
1. What Ifs and Shoulds is another thinking trap that occurs when civilians second guess their actions after things went wrong during the deployment.
Action: Be objective
Ask “critical question”
-- Could you reasonably have known what would happen? No one can predict when something bad is going to happen during combat. Even when we take all the precautions we can, bad stuff may still happen.
-- Are your thoughts about the deployment hurting your ability to enjoy life now? Buddies you lost would have wanted you to be able to enjoy life; you’ve earned the right to be happy.
Ask for an example
-- Examples: If only I hadn’t gone on R&R, If only I hadn’t been in the second vehicle…
-- Review critical question with examples.
5. The following slides show how to counter these Thinking Traps using the ATC model.