The Intervention Process for the Crisis Victim - Case Study Example

Introduction

To answer this, it would necessitate one to understand what the term crisis means. Crisis refers to obstacles that face a person and restrict achievement of importance short-term and long-term goals in life (kanel, 2015). The person in crisis is a Kenyan aged 50, previously living in Mombasa. He is a black and married to Swahili lady. The two have five children, but two of them died as a result of Tsunami in the year 2004. The family is believed to have possessed property worth 8 million shillings in Mombasa. He is a doctor at a particular hospital in Mombasa, and the wife is a nurse in the same hospital. They used to live near the shores of Indian Ocean before the occurrence of Tsunami.

The Type of Crisis

The occurrence of Tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004 caused rapid destruction of property and displacement of people hence resulting to environmental changes at the coast. The tsunami led to the destruction of his property and death of his two sons and since the he was left in Trauma. The situation can be categorized into natural crisis, the crisis of loss, financial crisis and Trauma. It is considered a natural crisis because it is beyond human control but a natural environment phenomena. It is a natural process of the earth that has resulted in the death of people and destruction of property worth millions of shillings. The death of two of the family members makes it be considered a crisis of loss while the loss of property which resulted in bankruptcy, and non-availability of funds makes it a financial crisis. The whole event had a great impact in his life hence living him in a trauma crisis.

Further, looking at the situation from a wider perspective, it can be referred as a crisis because it creates the need to make prompt decisions. For example, after the occurrence of Tsunami, he had to run away to the camps to seek help. Second, the occurrence of all these events is short. For instance, the time between the occurrence of tsunami and him relocating is small. His reputation also is impacted negatively when he incurred massive losses as a result of the destruction of property which played a significant part in building his reputation. The loss of his family members may have caused him to lose control as a result of pain.

Crisis Intervention

Crisis intervention is defined as the techniques adapted to provide immediate aid to victims who experience a situation that produces physical, mental, and behavioral problems (kanel, 2015). The aim of crisis intervention is to relieve stress in people. Age, gender, race, class, background and faulty belief system are some of the things the impacts both negatively and positively to crisis intervention. To offer help to a crisis victim, it requires trust between the victim and the crisis intervener. However, in some cases, women interveners are urged to offer support to male interveners. This impacts the intervention process in that it restrict the development of trust and good rapport between the two. This is because male victims sometimes undermine and rejects the advice the ladies provide. This also applies to race. For example, sometimes the crisis victim is a different race from the intervener. This makes it had for them to communicate verbally when offering assistance. Again, there are some cases where the intervener comes from a culture that does not experience same problems as the victim. For example, in our case of tsunami, it is hard for crisis interveners from landlocked countries to understand the event at hand. This hinders the crisis intervention process.

The class also affects crisis intervention process. For example, if the crisis victim is from a lower class than the crisis victim, they may feel dejected, undermined or humiliated. This forces such victims to remain silent to questions asked, or to develop a tendency of restricting or withdrawing during the process of intervention. This again adds injuries to victims. On the contrary, people of the same class ease the process of intervention. Therefore, it is vital that before crisis intervention, the intervener to introduce themselves accordingly. On the other hand, if the victim tends to be of a higher class he may undermine the intervener from a lower level. The faulty belief system is also another diversity issue that may affect crisis intervention process. For instance, what the victim has learnt and sometimes taught in life may affect how he interprets the help offered. Lastly, people from different backgrounds have different ways of approaching problems. For example, if the intervener has a different way of approaching the problem as the victim has in mind, the victim tend to be fearful and co-dependent.

The Scope of the Problem

The scope of the social problem is defined by the following questions: what is the problem? , What has been done so far regarding such crisis, what are the desired outcomes to past crisis? , and what is the hypothesis to be formulated? .In relation to these questions, the intervening team will have to design a description of the crisis and what needs to be done. In reference to the question, why does the problem exist? It entails exploring the causes of the crisis and identifying relevant international or local research on the problem as it helps in the identification of the gaps in knowledge. In relation the question, what has been done so far regarding such crisis? And what is the desired outcome of the intervening process? Aid the team to discover what has been done so far regarding such crisis to determine what has been done to solve such kind of problems before and what is useful in developing new approaches to the problem. The team will also try to understand the desirable outcomes of addressing the crisis. Lastly, regarding the question, what is the hypothesis on the social problem? It enables the intervening team to formulate an effective hypothesis by the questions above. The indicators of the social problem are poverty rate and unemployment rate.

The crisis has adverse consequences on the victim and the family. To start with, the events of the tsunami may result in psychiatric effects such as trauma to the family members. This could be as a result of witnessing traumatic events such as injuries and death from the destruction of properties. To add on, the death of other family members may result in trauma. The crisis also results in exposure of the family members. For instance, after the Tsunami event, the family is forced to relocate to the camps. The camps are overcrowded resulting to insufficient sanitation and water services. To add on, the family may be exposed to the risk of waterborne diseases. This is a result of presence pathogens in the water available for consumption posing the risk of contracting communicable diseases. The rate of malnutrition also increases. The displacement of the family may leave the family members with hypertensive problems to lack access to proper medication. This may further results to the death of such family members as a result of lack proper medication.

Intervention Process

The intervention process for the crisis victim in the case above will follow the ABC model. A identifies the phase that needs basic attending skills; B identifies the phase that entails identification, and therapeutic intervention and C identifies coping (kanel, 2015).

Basic Attending Skills

As a counselor to the victim, the first phase of the session entails fostering a healthy therapeutic relationship. For example, introducing the role of a counselor in a friendly and respectful manner. Some of the basic attending skills are to be demonstrated through respect by normalizing and legitimizing the crisis. This also entails assuring the victim that their response to the natural crisis and other crisis are neither wrong nor right. The counselor should make sure they communicate clearly both in a non-verbal and verbal manner. The intervener should practice listening most of the time as victims in such crisis tend to speak out their emotions.

Identification and Therapeutic Identification

This phase involves trying to identify the problem. An effective approach to identifying problems in crisis victim is when the clients’ frustration is removed. Some of the sample questions for problem identification may include, how do you think I can offer assistance to you? This is because various problem answers the sample questions. Identifying the precipitated events is a systematic approach to identifying the problem. Some of the questions to ask the victim include, do you think what happened is unique to your life? Are the emotions you have unique from your normal experience?

Therapeutic techniques to apply in counseling include reframing, assessment, listening and planning. In reference to listening, to ensure the session is effective it is good to practice more of listening in the beginning stages. With assessment, the question asks in identifying the problem act as a form of evaluation. This also compels the counselor to assess the copying skills of the client. Under reframing, the counselor should help the victim develop a new perspective regarding the crisis. Lastly, under this phase, the counselor should assist the client to develop positive skills that would help him respond to the events if they happen in future.

Copying

The last phase of the crisis intervention incorporates support mechanism and copying skills. Under this phase, referral to other counseling services is crucial. The counselor should also refer the clients to other media resources or other helpful books and a follow-up of the same.

In conclusion, the ABC intervention plan provides an effective approach of dealing with crisis victim. This is because it helps in easing the anxiety that is associated with unexpected events. To avoid being consumed by such crisis, counselors should seek external help from other counselors. Again, they should avoid being carried away by the emotions the victims.

Reference

Kanel, K. (2015). A guide to crisis intervention. Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole.