Strengths And Weaknesses Of Crisis Counseling

A crisis can be defined as a turning point, our habitual strengths and coping mechanisms have been surpassed and a new approach has to be developed. According to Barnes (1984:115) “crisis intervention focuses on the reduction of anxiety in the client alongside the mobilisation of hope and the restoration of a sense of autonomy and control over the situation.

In order for the counseling process to be effective for the client the characteristics and behaviors of the mental health counselor must be effective. To be an effective mental health counselor the process must include both the art and science of helping clients when they struggle. This paper will address both effective and ineffective characteristics of the given transcript along with an explanation of how a counselor’s characteristics or behaviors influence a session with a client.

The importance of focusing on crisis intervention training will help to not only better understand the concept, but also to understand police crisis intervention teams. Crisis intervention training has become such an important way for police department to help their communities and especially protected groups such as the mentally ill.

Crisis intervention is emergency first aid for mental health (Ehly, 1986). In this paper, I intend to show you a brief overview of what crisis intervention is, describe what school psychologists do and summarize the steps they may use to identify, assess, and intervene with an individual experiencing crisis.

For this part of the assignment I am using examples from a 50 minute session recorded within the learning environment. I play the role of the counsellor, and another student plays the role of the client. In order for me to answer the learning outcomes, I have watched the DVD recording.

According to, the American Psychological Association (2013) define, “crisis intervention as the brief ameliorate, rather than specifically curative, use of psychology or counseling to aid individuals, families, and groups who have undergone a highly disruptive experience, such as an unexpected bereavement or a disaster” (p.148).

Psychotherapy and counselling are inseparable. The effectiveness of a counselling program is not just based on the connectedness and interaction between a therapist and a client, but also the framework of the counselling approach in helping the client improving his mental health or overcoming personal problems. There are an extensive number of psychotherapies developed by past researchers, with each therapeutic concept offering unique contributions in understanding human behaviour and useful implications for counselling practice (Bedi et al., 2011).

American Counseling Association. (2005). Retrieved January 11, 2011, from Code of Ethics of the American Counseling Association:

When someone asked me what I thought a crisis was, the first examples that came to my mind was Hurricane Katrina, September 11, 2001. Once I began to think more of what the definition of a crisis would be, I know that it is the reaction of how someone reacts to a crisis event. Other examples may be suicide, homicide, domestic violence, and different traumas that one experiences. Once we began our discussions in class, I realized that a crisis and how one deals with a crisis, whether it is a natural, manmade or personal, effects each person differently. How that person handles the crisis, may have short term or long term effects that may lead to a mental illness. That is one of the points that I found very interesting, among other information we learned in class, along with the various speakers that we had.

In psychology, crisis intervention models are designed to help mental health professionals in dealing with a variety of situations. This is because the conditions surrounding patients, their friends or family have become severe enough that some kind of intercession is necessary. In the case of drug abuse, these tools are utilized to address the underlying problems and introduce possible solutions. To fully understand the best approach requires comparing crisis intervention techniques. This will be accomplished by: examining two different crisis intervention models and psychological first aid strategies. Together, these elements will highlight the most effective tactics for reaching out to individuals who are suffering from substance abuse.

Although not everyone that comes across a stressor in life will experience a crisis, some are unable to cope with the stressor in a healthy manner and eventually succumb to a crisis. If this person does not receive the adequate crisis intervention during this state, he or she is likely to be unable to function at the level he or she had been functioning before the crisis. This will inevitably lead to additional crisis scenarios for every stressor they must face in life. “This pattern can go on for many years until the person’s ego is completely drained of its capacity to deal with reality; often such people commit suicide, kill someone, or have a psychotic breakdown.” (Kanel, K. 2007).

Whether intentional or unintentional, the misdiagnosis of client concerns is a problem that can have implications for counselors and clients. Mead (1997) reported the

Crisis intervention is a method that uses concepts of crisis theory as a framework to aid in understanding a client’s experiences and to provide a worker with steps to follow when supporting a client in a crisis (Roberts & Ottens 2005, p. 331).

Licensed professional counselors have a unique occupation in that not only do they interact with their clients on a highly personal level, but they also momentarily share their client’s burdens, worries, and concerns. This vicarious aspect of counseling creates the possibility for a counselor to continue sharing the client’s troubles long after the session has ended. According to Norcross and Guy (2007), “The person of the psychotherapist is inextricably intertwined with treatment success” (p. 2) meaning that if we desire more positive outcomes than negative ones we must figuratively become one with our clients. Due to this fact, “self-care is not simply a personal matter but also an ethical necessity, a moral imperative” (p. 6). If we fail to leave work at work at the day’s end, then other facets of our lives are in jeopardy of becoming tainted.

Clear definitions also help to prevent conflict due to misunderstanding. Many clients come into therapy with the same expectations with which they walk into the physician’s office: they relay their problems, and the expert will prescribe a fix to make the pain disappear. While anything is possible through the power of the Spirit, as the American Counseling Association (2017) defines counseling as, “…a professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families, and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness, education, and career goals” (paragraph 2). The power in counseling is in the process of relationship building that empowers clients to process and grow out of their