Crisis Intervention: Lost of a Child
Introduction
Crisis intervention basically means the ways or methodology a person applies to a situation, to provide an immediate and short-term solution. Such help is offered to people, who are experiencing sort of a breakdown or distress, whether emotional, physical, mental, behavioral or even nervous, and suddenly cannot apply their problem-solving skills or cannot cope well with their situations Gerald et al. (2001). There are a number of occurrences and events that can be said to be a crisis. For instance; situations that are life threatening such as natural calamities, victimization of a criminal activity, sexual assault, death or loss of a loved one such as a child Gerald et al. (2001). This paper will focus on the discussion crisis intervention during loss of a child.
A person sometimes waits for a certain period, mostly twenty four hours to some few weeks before attempting to get help. According to Gerald et al. (2001), the person or facility offering crisis intervention is supposed to do it in a manner that is supportive and should not let it last for a long time. It is meant to last from at least one session to an average of four weeks. For this reason, it is not appropriate for persons with problems that have been long-standing as it only takes twenty minutes to two hours per session Frank & Freeman (1994). Most of the time, crisis intervention sessions are done in; hospital emergency rooms, mental health clinics, schools, correctional facilities and medical centers among others Frank & Freeman (1994). There are also hotline telephone numbers where a person in distress can call to get crisis intervention on things like sexual assault, domestic violence or suicide. Such hotlines are available twenty four hours a day. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
Abstract
Losing a child is one of the toughest crisis a parent has to deal with. Loss of a child is mainly in form of death. Frank & Freeman (1994), assert that, it is a guarantee that no parent or even guardian is ever prepared for such a crisis, and most of the time a huge percentage of parents do not know how to cope up with the crisis or even recover from it long after it has passed Gerald et al. (2001). It is usually one of the most stressful happening to both the parents as well as the siblings of the deceased child. Several interventions that may be applied after the death of a child have been examined in the past years Gerald et al. (2001). There are four types of interventions that can be applied following the loss of a child. They include; counseling, joining support groups, psychotherapy, and crisis intervention.
The most challenging part is giving the bereaved emotional support as well as educational support on how to cope up with the sudden death of their child. A research found out that, it is difficult for the whole family altogether to cope up with this type of crisis, children both adolescents and adults included Frank & Freeman (1994). They all suffer the loss equally even the little ones who seem not to understand what is going on. The grief of the bereaved people especially the ones who survived when their sibling died is usually followed by an elongated period of trauma and depression Gerald et al (2001). This is where crisis intervention steps in as it aims to help the bereaved want to keep on living and hold on to life despite the fact that the calamity happened and ripped them off their ability to cope positively and live hopefully.
The main purpose for a crisis intervention is to reduce the bereaved’s anxiety levels. At such a moment, the bereaved’s emotional, behavioral, physical as well as mental reactions are at an all time high intensity, and that is what crisis intervention attempts to reduce Frank & Freeman (1994). In addition to that, crisis intervention is usually meant to return the person to the previous state he or she was in before. It attempts to help them function how they used to function before the crisis occurred. Functioning will not always return to normal, however it can be improved by helping the victim to develop new ways of coping with the grief that arose from the crisis Gerald et al (2001). Such ways include inter alia; talking to someone about what happened, especially a counselor and letting out all the feelings which will help the victim feel much better and avoid ineffective and dangerous ways of coping such as substance and drug abuse, isolation, withdrawal or to the extreme cases of committing suicide.
Talking about what happened mostly helps the victim to develop more ways of solving problems and coping up with crises should a similar or related situation arises again Jeffrey & Everly (1996) It is mainly aimed at making a serious improvement in the person’s problem solving skills, decreasing distress and in the long-term avoiding serious problems that may be a consequence of the crisis, mostly depression Jeffrey & Everly (1996). This way, if any form of crisis occurs in the future, the victim is much better equipped to deal with it as compared to the first instance.
Conclusion
After all is said and done, the most important part of crisis intervention should never be left out. That is educating the bereaved person on how to respond to various crisis as well as making them understand that it is normal and okay to react the way they reacted. They should be made to understand that most of the time it the situation that happened that is abnormal and not the kind of reaction they had. In addition, new skills and techniques of coping can be introduced to the bereaved for instance; tips on how to stay relaxed, exercising the body and jotting down one’s feelings in form of journals, a diary or articles that other people can read and relate to. At the final stages, the professional is required to give a review of the bereaved’s progress, point out the changes, and encourage the affected to keep up with the coping techniques that they have learnt. Any signs that the affected is getting worse will be pointed out as soon as they manifest themselves and the red flags eliminated with immediate effect. Other than that, he or she will help the affected to come up with realistic plans especially when it comes to dealing with crisis of a similar nature that may occur in the future both for themselves and other people as well. The professional should provide any requisite information as well as resources that may be additionally required and follow up with an arranged telephone call at an agreed time in the future.
References
Frank M. and Arthur F. , eds. 1994, Cognitive-Behavioral Strategies in Crisis Intervention. New York: Guilford.
Gerald P., Erin K. Curtiss, and Krista E. Patton. 2001, “Medical Crisis Counseling in a Health Maintenance Organization: Preventive Intervention.” Professional Psychology: Researchand Practice 32.
Jeffrey T. and Everly G.S Jr. 1996, “Fundamentals of Critical Incident Stress Debriefings (CISD).” In Critical Incident Stress Debriefing: An Operations Manual for the Prevention of Traumatic Stress Among Emergency Services and Disaster Workers. 2nd ed revised. Ellicott City, MD: Chevron.
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