CRISIS INTERVENTION FORMAT

CRISIS INTERVENTION FORMAT

 When you are intervening with a subject in an apparent crisis, for whatever reason, the following process will enhance your chances for a successful intervention. These guidelines were also introduced in Professional Communication.

1. Try to Get the Person’s Attention

This is an important first step. You will not be able to make progress with a person in crisis unless he or she is paying adequate attention to you. Keep in mind that a person in crisis is more likely to see you rather than to hear you, at least initially. At first the subject may literally not be able to hear or understand the words you are saying but will see you and will gain an impression of you from what he or she sees.

2. Check on the Person’s Perception of Reality

A person in crisis may or may not perceive reality accurately. This may be particularly true of someone who is experiencing a mental disorder, but may also be true of a person who is under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, or is in a temporary crisis for any reason.

3. Attempt to Establish Rapport with the Person

 To try to alleviate the person’s fears and to get him or her to trust you, there are certain things that you can and should say to a person in crisis. Avoid words that could have a negative connotation, if those words are misunderstood by the other person.

4. Explain Your Perception of Reality

At the same time that it is important for you to try to understand the perception of reality of a person in crisis, it is also important for you to try to make clear your perception of reality to that person. This helps the other person to distinguish between what he or she is experiencing and what you are experiencing. Some people in a crisis, whether based on mental disorder, alcohol or drug abuse, etc. are uncertain as to what is “real” or not. On the one hand, a person may see or hear something, but on the other hand may know or suspect that what they perceive is not real. For that reason, a “reality check” from another person may be useful.

5. Move toward Resolution of the Situation

Finally, you need to try to move toward achieving a resolution of the situation. What that resolution is depends on the reason that you are there. You may have resolved the immediate crisis, and nothing more needs to be done. Or resolving the crisis may be just the initial step, and something else must follow such as taking the person to a hospital or other care facility, either voluntarily or via an emergency detention.

Remain realistic and honest in your dealing with the subject. You have worked hard to establish rapport and calm the subject. To do so, meant that you had to establish your credibility with the subject and maintaining that credibility is crucial to achieving a positive resolution.

BY MKULA DENNIS