Crisis Intervention

Crisis Intervention Skills

The counseling and therapy of individuals involved in a traumatic situation begins with a counselor's awareness of their own assumptions, values, and biases regarding racial, cultural, and group differences James, R. K. & Gilliland, B.E. (2013). From my point of view using psychological counseling as an intervention skill for individuals involved in the catastrophic events of Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, or the Oklahoma City Bombing would preferably describe an aftermath of people having what is called Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which occurs when an experience is so disturbing, such as these tragic occurrences which have taken place, that it disrupts the information processing system of the brain James, R. K. & Gilliland, B.E. (2013). One of the systems main functions involves the transformation of disturbing experiences into mental adaptation, through a process known as eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (E.M.D.R), which is a well-known psychological therapy that is used by counselors to study eye movements and other procedures to process traumatic memories F. Shapiro & M.S. Forrest (2004).

This particular therapy has been used increasingly to treat post-traumatic stress disorder and other traumas suffered from natural and man-made disasters, and have been proven as an effective eight phase treatment F. Shapiro & M.S. Forrest (2004). (E.M.D.R) benefits the client by completely processing the experiences that are causing problems, and to effectively include new ones that will leave the client with the emotions, understanding, and perspectives that ultimately leads to healthy and useful behaviors and interactions F. Shapiro & M.S. Forrest (2004). Multicultural issues such as the client's ecological and cultural background is an important factor that requires the counselor to be acutely sensitive to the emerging needs of the individual, which in time establishes a relationship built on trust and credibility, which in my opinion is the most important condition for a successful outcome of any kind of crisis intervention James, R. K. & Gilliland, B.E. (2013).

References

James, R. K. & Gilliland, B.E. (2013). Crisis intervention strategies (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole

F. Shapiro & M.S. Forrest (2004) EMDR. New York: BasicBooks. http://www.perseusbooksgroup.com/perseus-cgi-bin/display/0-465-04301-1

Elliott, D. E., Bjelajac, P., Fallot, R. D., Markoff, L. S., & Reed, B. G. (2005). Trauma-informed or trauma-denied: Principles and implementation of trauma-informed services for women. Journal of Community Psychology, 33(4), 461-477