Have you ever been in a crisis? I’m sure everyone has encountered a crisis at least once in his or her lives before, just like this assignment is a crisis to me. For this assignment, I am going to write about the characteristics, skills, therapeutic conditions and models are applied in the process of crisis intervention.
Firstly, the characteristics of crisis are listed below.
Presence of danger and opportunity
Crisis is both danger and opportunity. Why? Crisis is beneficial when it instigates an individual to seek help, go beyond their fundamental coping skills and to acquire new skills to cope with the situation, hence becoming more capable and independent when new crisis arises in the future. “It is an opportunity as the pain and helplessness urges the individual to pursue help” (Aguilera & Messick, 1982) Crisis is also dangerous when the individual is overwhelmed with pain and anxiety, causing the individual to result in negativity. “It is dangerous as it can cause the individual to be overwhelmed to the degree causing serious disorders, including suicide and homicide, may ensue.” (Danish, 1977).
Seeds of growth and change
Crisis may provide motivation to an individual to change for the better. When an individual is comfortable in their environment; he or she tends to be contented, satisfied with
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It is also how the counselor enters the situation on hand; he or she can introduce himself or herself in a non-threatening manner to establish a helpful, problem-solving connection. “The skill to convey authentic and empathy as to whom and whatever one is doing without pretense is significant” (Kleepies & Richmond, 2009). It is important to build a connection psychologically, establish rapport and to make intentions clear regarding to what is going to happen for the intervention to be
Crisis is an event that is unplanned, unwanted, and dangerous and leads to hard decision making. There are many different types of crisis such as economic crisis, mental health crisis, situational crisis, social crisis, adventitious crisis and many more. Every type of crisis affects people more than we think and know. There is always someone who loses and who gains during a crisis. People who lose are usually the ones who are affected the most such as losing a job, losing a family member or someone close to them, losing their homes and sometimes even their own lives. The people who gain are usually the rich people who prey on the poor and usually gain from making money and the poor’s lives miserable.
Secondly, it is natural that a variety of feelings a worker can experience, during a crisis situation, but from this course, I learned that how to respond and manage them in a positive manner. It was a useful outcome which provides me with the knowledge of how to maintain our thought, feelings and behaviors while acting or reacting that will keep me and as well as client safe and free from harm and abuse during the crisis.
Echterling, Presbury and McKee (2005) define crisis as a turning point in one’s life that is brief, but a crucial time in which, there is opportunity for dramatic growth and positive changes, as well as the danger of violence and devastation. They further state that whatever the outcome, people do not emerge from a crisis unchanged; if there is a negative resolution, the crisis can leave alienation, bitterness, devastated relationships and even death in its wake; on the other hand, if the crisis is resolved successfully a survivor can develop a deeper appreciation for life, a stronger sense of resolve, a mature perspective, greater feelings of competence, and richer relationships.
In order to understand the thought process of leadership during a crisis, the authors state that we must first understand a conceptual model that is theoretically grounded, (Combe & Carrington, 2015). The conceptual model is divided into two elements, the descriptive and prescriptive mental models, (Combe & Carrington, 2015). The descriptive mental model focuses the external changes that occur during a crisis. The prescriptive mental model concentrates on future actions that need to be implemented to derail the cognitive overload due to continuous external changes as the situation unfolds. The prescriptive model aligns objectives, providing clarity to future implications related to the crisis, (Combe & Carrington, 2015). The authors, Combe & Carrington, (2015) have noted the importance of longitudal research perspective to capture the thought processes of interaction, communication and problem solving in a crisis. This type of research method is instrumental in depicting the challenges to incorporate better solutions to evolving situations. Sense making in a crisis defines these issues to ascertain the complexity and provide meaning to the event, (Combe & Carrington, 2015). Sense making entails the filtering of excessive data to identify the areas of importance. This perspective provides a means of taking a negative, that being disruptive and changing it to a positive or opportunity for
As a counselor, the therapeutic relationship should be the main focus. It can be suggested that the most effective therapy begins with a warm and genuine relationship between the client and counselor. This relationship should be collaborative and based on respect, positive regard, acceptance, etc. Active listening skills, patience, empathy, and consistency represent some of the fundamental elements of establishing rapport.
There are many definitions for what is considered to be a crisis. Alan Jay Zaremba, author of the textbook ”Organizational Communication,” combines several definitions of the word to conclude that a crisis is “an incident that occurs unexpectedly, could damage an organization’s reputation, values, and/or performance, and requires effective communication. (Zaremba, 2010) In the case of the Nuance Group, their current situation completely blindsided the organization, was a nightmare for their reputation, and communication was now the key element in restoring their image. This was indeed a crisis.
The counselor accomplishes the above by expressing empathy, developing discrepancies, going along with resistance and supporting self-efficacy. Moreover, the counselor guides the client toward a solution that will lead to permanent posi...
Establishing a relationship with clients refer the counselor building a rapport with their clients. This involves factors such as respect, trust, psychological comfort, and shared purpose. This rapport is the psychological climate that emerges from the interpersonal contact between a counselor and their client (Hackney & Comier, 2013). In order for the counseling process to be successful a positive rapport must be established. Building a rapport is an ongoing process that must be worked on continuously. This process requires a high level of tact and adequate socialization skills. In addition, special consideration should be taken into factors and preexisting conditions, such as the clients comfort level in seeking professional assistance, their personal background and experiences and the client’s perceptions of their counselor, which may affect building a positive rapport with a client. With these anticip...
One must have attending behaviors this includes eye contact, attentive listening, body posture, overall empathy and warmth. In order to be a successful counselor when using the ABC model, it is important to have knowledge of cultural sensitivity (Kanel, 2007). According to Kanel crisis workers must remember that the attending behavior of different cultural and ethnic groups may vary in style, and as a clinician one may need to adapt when working with certain cultures (Kanel, 2007). Another important skill a clinician must possess is the skill ask questions properly without seeming judgmental. Most often in this model, it is important to use open ended questions in order to learn more information about the precipitating event. Questions beginning with “what” or “how” are most effective in this case. The ability to paraphrase is also important, which is the clinician’s ability to restate what they thought they heard in their own words or clarify what was said in a questioning manner. When this is done properly, the client knows that the counselor is listening and it helps build good rapport. Reflection of feelings is another technique to let the client know the counselor is listening, as well as summarization (Kanel,
Counseling skills has provided me with a valuable insight into the helping relationship and how it is both created and maintained in order to encourage growth and development in the client. The factors involved within the helping relationship include considering Roger’s core conditions, congruence, unconditional positive regard and empathy as the three main characteristics necessary in a helping relationship. In order to fully incorporate all three of Roger’s core conditions, I as the counselor must be self-aware, as a lack of self-awareness may inhibit truly listening and understanding the client; self-awareness can be enhanced through exercises such as Johari’s window. Counseling skills such as body language and active listening also plays a role within encouraging the client to open up and can help me as the counselor convey empathy.
The counselling process is one that may last for as little as one session or for years, it is within the middles stages of the helping relationship that particular counselling skills such as a focusing, challenging and immediacy can be implemented, as well as use of advanced empathy that can be applied due to increased familiarity with a speaker. Many actions may occur within middles stage of the helping relationship such as transitions that occur for a multitude of reasons and the outcome of which can vary based on the attitude of the speaker. Self-awareness remains vital throughout the entire counselling relationship due to the continual influence of empathy in the helping relationship and remaining aware my own motives and values when using advanced empathy and specific counselling skills. Ethics and boundaries are also involved within the counselling process as within a counselling relationship, I as the counsellor, must be careful with the balance or expenditure of power when challenging.
The ABC Model of Crisis Intervention (Kanel, 2010) and the Seven Task of Assessment (James, 2013) process are examples of two models that are used to conduct client evaluations during a crisis. Both models offer effective support techniques that, in turn, assist clients identify and cope with their crisis situations. Also, both models require participation and cooperation from the client in order to successfully carry out the process in its’ entirety.
Effective crisis intervention must follow ethical principles which ensure that client is not placed in further harm also that the decisions and opinions of the client are respected throughout the process and the intervention upholds a rights-based approach. This involves good listening communication skills, observing, understanding, genuineness, respect, acceptance, non-judgment and sensitivity demonstrating empathy, among other support provided by counselor. A number of specific strategies can be used to promote effective listening during crisis intervention. These include using open-ended questions - “what” or “how” questions. They are used to encourage sharing of information from a client about their feelings, thoughts and behaviors, and are particularly useful when exploring problems during a crisis.
The communication process is not something that begins when a crisis rears its ugly head rather it is a process that takes place in preparing for a crisis before it happens. While the term crisis represents a blanket term used to describe many situations, each situation is unique, thus presenting different obstacles to overcome. However, with a well-established advanced plan in place an organization places itself in a position to overcome and work around obstacles. The development of a comprehensive crisis management plan is one achieved through effective communication where each member of the crisis management team has an advanced shared understanding of his or her role and responsibility during a time of crisis (du Pr'e, 2005).
In conclusion, it’s evident from above that, for one to be an effective counselor he/she needs to show some traits that go hand in hand with professionalism and devoid of the following traits egocentric, defensive and opinionated. Counseling demands that one has to be posses the skills of communication, effective coordination, and depicts a sense of humor. Above all, counselors should portray good sense of code of conduct which postulates high