Intervention by a Trained Professional is 96% Successful

The methods and techniques that are employed in order to offer an individual immediate and short-term assistance methods used to offer immediate, short-term help to individuals who experience during a personal or family crisis is referred to as “crisis intervention”  These events will oftentimes produce behavioral, emotional, mental, and physical distress and other related problems.  A crisis is typically any event that affects the individual by diminishing their ability to cope with everyday life and solve problems.

There are numerous events that can be labeled as being a crisis such as:

• Consequences of a medical illness
• Consequences of a mental illness
• Criminal victimization such as rape and sexual assault
• Death of a loved one or the loss of a loved one through divorce
• Natural disasters that become life-threatening (e.g. earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornados)
• Thoughts about homicide or suicide

The Purpose of Crisis Intervention

There are numerous purposes that necessitate the design and development of crisis intervention programs.  The goal of any crisis intervention is to reduce and hopefully eliminate the individual’s reaction to a crisis on the behavioral, emotional, mental, and physical level.  It follows then that the secondary goal is to enable the individual to achieve the level of functioning that they had prior to the crisis occurring.

Above and beyond this, functioning can be improved in other ways, such as developing better and newer coping skills which enable them to eliminate their ineffectual ways of coping, in the past such as:

• Social isolation
• Substance abuse
• Withdrawal issues

In addition to improved coping skills and functioning, crisis intervention also benefits the suffering individual in that it helps them recover from the impact of the particular crisis and prevent them from developing more serious, long-term problems.  This is usually accomplished in numerous ways such as:

• Developing ways to cope with any future crises
• Developing ways to solve and future problems resulting from a crisis
• Discussing what transpired during the crisis
• Discussing their personal emotions and feelings about the crisis

How does Crisis Intervention Work?

In most circumstances, the first step in the crisis intervention process involves an assessment session wherein the individual discusses the events of the crisis and how they reacted to these events.  We have found that these reactions can be:

• Behavioral – appetite problems, isolation and withdrawal, or sleeping disorders
• Emotional - feelings of anger, fear, grief, or guilt
• Mental – being confused, having difficulty trying to concentrate, or having nightmares
• Physical – dizziness, fatigue, headaches, or stomach disorders

The crisis intervention process is educational as well as it teaches an individual how to confront their particular crisis situation and cope with it.