ABC Model of Crisis Intervention - Essay Example

In most cases, crisis involves issues of threat, loss and the unexpected. Therefore a good approach is important to handle any crisis depending on its nature and sensitiveness. There have been different approaches theoretically put in place to offer assistance to those going through crisis. ABC model is a therapy that is applied to approach a crisis seeking a plan to manage and contain the situation. This has been the most effective way of approaching a problem that may result to a serious crisis.

It seeks to provide a long term solution to an issue to avoid future related problems. It is therefore an advisable model that every counselor should embrace in their field of work (Kenal, 2012). The crisis is handled by counselors who have undergone training on the skills needed to handle a situation. There are basic skills of attending to a crisis that a counselor should possess in their line of work in order to be a successful crisis counselor. One of the most important aspect is establishing a therapeutic relationship in a quick way as soon as a crisis is established.

This is a measure of preventing a crisis from getting out of hand in a duration of time. There are procedural skills that should be applied in this stage. Respect should be demonstrated to the client and a counselor should not try to disapprove or approve an action of a client. The focus should be demonstrated on the crisis to normalize the situation without making the client feel like a victim. Everyone experiences and handles a crisis differently and therefore the counselor should treat every case differently.

A client in crisis needs to be listened to and shown undivided attention to make them feel appreciated and cared for. Identifying the problem is another vital phase a counselor needs to be skilled in. At this stage a counselor needs to make the client feel comfortable to talk. They have to wait for tension to ease from the frustration of the client at the time of crisis. This gives them time to have an overview of what the situation is like and the approach the crisis at hand. Identifying a problem makes solving it easy by observing the nature of the situation and the character of the client.

With this skill of approaching and identifying a situation, a counselor is able to handle the second phase in solving a crisis. The counselor is able to identify the precipitating events that led to the crisis at hand. The are a number of questions that a counselor is able to ask themselves as they approach a crisis. Questions like, what happened that led to the crisis in hand?, did what happened cause the client to behave or act differently?. Therefore, a counselor is able to know the approach to give to a crisis.

The counselor is able to apply a technique known as Therapeutic technique after understanding the nature of the situation. The techniques that are applicable in this case are listening, trying to assess the situation, reframing and planning on the best approach to the crisis (Gilliland & James, 2013). Effective counseling in times of crisis is mostly based on listening than speaking. In this stage a counselor should listen more to the client and observe the effect a crisis has on the client. From listening the process of therapeutic communication unfolds to become more of a dialogue between the client and the counselor.

This process of listening are therefore developed into a point of mutual understanding and trust and the client feels more comfortable to open up. At this point of crisis solving, the process starts to bear fruit and the counselor can know the approach to give to the crisis as per its nature and client characters. The advice should not be deluded but rather give a broader view to the crisis. The background and upbringing of a client needs to be looked into in