The Importance Of Crisis Intervention Theories

Crisis refers to the experience of a difficult situation that a person is unable to manage or handle due to loss of his/ her coping skills. Individuals who face crises usually lose their level of functioning, or known as being in the state of psychological disequilibrium. According to Belkin(1984), crisis is a personal difficulty or situation that immobilizes people and prevent them from consciously controlling their lives. When one is experiencing a crisis, it can potentially cause severe malfunctioning of thoughts, behaviours and feelings. This might lead to a point of injurious or lethal behaviour to oneself or others if not intervened timely.

Over the years, many have produced crisis intervention theories. Among those theories, according

A crisis interventionist’s main role is to reduce the intensity of client’s emotional, physical, mental and behavioral reactions to a crisis (Aguilera, 1998). Over some time, this will lead to the restoration of the client’s psychological state of equilibrium, given the process of intervention is carried out effectively. The crisis worker has to be proficient in handling a client in crisis such as using the right approach, techniques or model. There are a few skills that effective crisis workers should acquire during intervention. According to Cormier and Hackney (1987), they should examine and understand the world from client’s viewpoint, search for roles that may be more appealing and adaptive to clients and help clients make contact with indigenous support systems. Among many characteristics such as being assertive, knowledgeable and skilled, crisis workers ought to have a fair amount of life experience (Carkhuff and Berenson,

The steps are not in fixed sequence, given that every crisis is unique on its own. It also can be used for early intervention or at later stage.

Another advantage is the steps are straight to the point. Given that a crisis has to be resolved in a shortest possible timeframe, the helper should not digress on doing other counselling-related processes such as conducting personality test or focusing on clients’ life goals. This is unlike the ACT model(Roberts, 2000) which has a task on dealing with feelings.

Unlike other crisis intervention models, this model includes the follow-up task. This step is vital but often overlooked by crisis workers, especially the less experienced ones.

On the other hand, there are some limitations one could face when following this model. One might find this model not useful in handling family crisis.

This model also does not explore clients’ past positive coping capabilities and alternatives. It would be helpful if client is seen as a resilient and resourceful individual with large potential. Lastly, this model is helpful in restoring equilibrium only, not for personal growth or resolving childhood