crisis and conflicts counseling

1. CRISIS COUNSELING
Prepared by
Raveen Ismael Abdullah
B.CS.in Nursing
Hawler medical university
College of nursing
2016-2017

2. Outlines
• Introduction to crisis Counseling
• Importance of crisis counseling
• Reaction to crisis
• Type of crisis
• Sign of crisis
• Elements of crisis counseling
• Assessment of crisis

3. Objectives
At the end of presentations students will be able
to :
• Differentiate between psychotherapy and
crisis counseling
• Identify the type of crisis and how to assess
clients situations .
• Understand the main elements of crisis
counseling

5. Background
• The roots of modern day crisis counseling date back to
World War I and World War II.
• Before this time, soldiers who exhibited significant
psychological reactions to the experiences they had at
war were frequently seen as weak or even disloyal.
• However, it soon became visible that soldier who were
immediately offered treatment fared much better
than their untreated counterparts.

6. Introduction
• Crisis counseling is not psychotherapy.
• Crisis intervention is focused on minimizing the
stress of the event, providing emotional support
and improving the individual’s coping strategies.
• Like psychotherapy, crisis counseling involves
assessment, planning and treatment, but the
scope of is generally much more specific

7. Introduction
• A crisis refers not just to a traumatic event or
experience, but to an individual's response to
the situation.
• Crisis counselling is to help an individual to
restore some sense of control and mastery after
a crisis event or disaster.
• Crisis counseling is generally lasting for a period
of no longer than a few weeks, although the
effects may become long-lasting.

8. Crisis
• is a perception or experiencing of an event or
situation as an intolerable difficulty that
exceeds the person’s current resources and
coping mechanisms. (James & Gilliland, 2001)

9. Reaction to Personal Crisis
Individuals in crisis can:
• Cope by themselves and grow stronger from
the experience
• Survive the immediate crisis, but block it from
consciousness leading to future problems
• Break down from the crisis – putting life on
hold unless they receive immediate assistance

10. Signs of crisis
• Counselors are encouraged to be aware of the typical
responses of those who have experienced a crisis or
currently struggling with the trauma.
Cognitive response :
• blame themselves or others for the trauma.
• disoriented, becomes hypersensitive or confused, has
poor concentration, uncertainty, and poor
troubleshooting.
Physical responses :
• increased heart rate, tremors, dizziness, weakness,
chills, headaches, vomiting, shock, fainting, sweating,
and fatigue.

11. Emotional responses
• The person may experiences apathy,
depression, irritability, anxiety, panic,
helplessness, hopelessness, anger, fear, guilt,
and denial.
Behavioral response
• Difficulty eating and/or sleeping, conflicts with
others, withdrawal from social situations, and
lack of interest in social activities.
Signs of crisis

12. Typologies of Crises
• Developmental crises occur when events in the normal
flux and flow of human growth are disrupted by a
dramatic shift that accelerate an abnormal response.
• Graduation from college, marriage, a first child, job
change, or retirement are all key developmental
benchmarks that call for dramatic shifts.
• Cultural variances may play a large part in whether
these developmental issues are seen as crises or not.

13. Typologies of Crises
• Situational crises :
occur when an uncommon event occurs that
the individual has no way of warn or
controlling.
Example :
Automobile accidents, rapes, shootings, sudden
illnesses, the unexpected death of a child or
spouse, job loss, and divorce

14. • Existential crises
are those inner conflicts that accompany the
important human issues of joy, happiness,
love, responsibility, goal orientation, and self-
concept.
• Existential crises occur when individuals
suddenly realize that some important
intrapersonal aspect of their lives will never
be fulfilled.
Typologies of Crises

15. • Systemic crises
Example /
Crisis result:
• in death and injury, as well as the loss of basic
human necessities such as food and shelter.
• Infrastructure services are destroyed, and the
means of employment are lost because the
businesses where people worked are no longer in
existence.
Typologies of Crises

16. Crisis Counseling
Crisis counseling:
a process that has as its focus the emotional
consequences of a crisis.
Crisis Intervention :
is an immediate and short-term psychological care
aimed at assisting individuals in a crisis situation.
Duration :
Crisis counselling can range from 15 minutes to 2 hours,
whereas the frequency of crisis counselling with the
same person ranges from 1 to 3 times.

17. Why we do crisis counseling?
Crisis counselling is special and has limited goals such as:
1. To ensure safety and promote overall stability
1. To provide emotional support for the individual.
2. To solve problem and assists individuals in obtaining
available resources.
3. To restore equilibrium to their biopsychosocial
functioning and to minimize the potential for long-
term psychological trauma.

19. The Counselor’s Role
1. Listen to concerns
2. Assess safety needs
3. Protect rights and responsibilities of client .
4. Build therapeutic relationship.
5. Putting objectives .
6. Speak clearly, in the present, about the problem.
7. Take immediate, direct action to restore mobility
and equilibrium.

20. Counselor Characteristics
• Maturity
• Variety of life experiences
• Basic helping skills
• High energy
• Knowledgeable
• Calm in high stress environments

21. Elements of Crisis Counseling
1. Assessing the Situation
• The first part of crisis counseling involves assessing the
client’s current situation.
• This involves listening to the client, asking questions and
determining what the individual needs to cope effectively
with the crisis.
• During this time, the crisis counseling provider needs to
define the problem while at the same time acting as a
source of empathy, acceptance and support.
Ensure client safety, both physically and psychologically.

22. Ask and Listen
• Open-ended questions
• Closed-ended questions
• Owning feelings
• Disowned statements
• Conveying understanding
• Value judgments
• Positive reinforcement
• Empathy, genuineness, acceptance

23. 2. Education
• People who are experiencing a crisis need
information about their current condition and
the steps they can take to minimize the
damage.
Elements of Crisis Counseling

24. 3. Offering Support
• providing support, stabilization and resources.
• Active listening.
• Nonjudgmental support during a crisis can help reduce
stress improve coping.
• Develop a brief dependency on supportive people.
• Unlike unhealthy dependencies, these relationships
help the individual become stronger and more
independent.
Elements of Crisis Counseling

25. 4. Developing Coping Skills
• Helping clients develop coping skills to deal
with the immediate crisis.
• Helping the client explore different solutions
to the problem.
• Practicing stress reduction techniques.
• Encouraging positive thinking.
Elements of Crisis Counseling

26. Assessment
First step of assessment
• The first is triage assessment, which is an
immediate assessment to determine lethality
and determine appropriate referral to one of
the following:
emergency inpatient hospitalization, outpatient
treatment facility or private therapist, or if no
referral is needed.

27. Second step of assessment
• Gathering information regarding the
individual’s crisis state, environment, and
interpersonal relationships in order to work
towards resolving the current crisis.
• This step helps facilitate development of an
effective and appropriate treatment plan.
Assessment

28. Third step of assessment
• Biosocial and cultural assessment.
• This would be completed by using systematic
assessment tools to ascertain the client’s
current level of stress, situation, present
problem, and severe crisis episode
Assessment

29. Summary
• A crisis is a disturbance resulting from a
perceived threat that challenges the person's
usual coping mechanisms.
• Crises can stimulate growth.
• Crisis intervention is a brief, active therapy
with the goal of returning the individual to a
pre crisis level of functioning.

30. References
Hill, J.R. (1985). Predicting suicide. Psychiatric Services, 46, 223-225.
Parad, H.J. & Parad, L.G. (1999). Crisis Intervention: Book 2. Ontario,
Canada: Manticore Publishers.
Wiger, D.E. & Harowski, K.J. (2003). Essentials of Crisis Counseling and
Intervention. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.