4.3  Crisis Intervention Guidelines

A family is in crisis when they have reached a highly volatile, unstable situation.  This "flash point" is beyond what is considered the general level of dysfunction.  Families in crisis are at a turning point for better or worse.  If immediate remedial intervention is not made, out-of-home placement of the child(ren) may be necessary.

Crises develop from "emotionally hazardous situations."  Such situations occur when a shift in one's psychological environment alters relationships with others, or self-expectations, in ways perceived as negative.  The resulting rise in stress motivates one to use coping mechanisms or problem-solving behaviors that help reestablish a balance, and to reduce or eliminate feelings of discomfort.  The emotionally hazardous situation becomes a crisis when one cannot reduce the accompanying stress and there is a failure to cope effectively.

Because of this, families in crisis often have increased motivation to change.  During this time, the Children’s Service Worker has an opportunity to establish strong bonds with the family.

Crisis intervention is the provision of immediate services to reduce or defuse the current crisis and provide the family with information or skills to help them resolve future crises.  The interventions of the Children’s Service Worker must target the present circumstances.  His/her goal is to remove the crisis through understanding and dealing with forces in the present, and to help the family return to a pre-crisis level of functioning.  The worker must actively modify the environment, provide some structure, and induce change to prevent further disintegration of the family system.

In these instances, the worker should:

• Observe the child(ren) in the home to assess the child(ren)'s safety. This may require an unannounced home visit;
• Avoid excessive questioning and probing.  This should allow family members to speak their mind and ventilate their feelings;
• Model calmness for the family;
• Use active listening skills with the family.  These skills can be very helpful in releasing the feelings of the client and defusing highly emotional situations.  Active listening requires the worker to:
  • Attempt to identify how the family members might feel, by taking a guess at what the other person is feeling and thinking.  Keep trying to understand the problem instead of trying to fix it;
  • Smile and maintain good eye contact;
  • Nod the head in response to the client and use phrases which lead to further discussion, such as, "Uh huh," and "tell me more";
  • Parrot or paraphrase what the other has said, such as, "What I hear you saying is...", "It seems to you..." or "I'm picking up that you...";
  • Be accurate when paraphrasing.  Avoid overstating and understating;
  • Observe physical cues that might convey what the person is feeling; and
  • Reflect both feelings as well as the content, while paraphrasing what the client is saying.
• Respond appropriately to silences;
• Use behavioral descriptions of the problem, not labels or jargon;
• Assess if "hard" services, which address basic survival needs, can be delivered to remedy the immediate presenting problem(s).  Problems within the environment of the family that pose an immediate threat must be considered.  Examples of these problems are lack of food, housing, transportation, and employment.  Crisis intervention funds may be a resource to address such problems.  Providing services to address these problems sends a powerful message that there is hope and that the worker is a helping agent;
• Help the family to temporarily restructure their environment so events which may cause discord are altered.  This can often reduce the immediate risk to family members.  An example of this might be to arrange time-out for a family member to allow a brief "cooling off" period, or to invite a friend or relative to the home to assist getting the children ready for bed if bedtime is usually a high stress period for the parent;
• Assure the family that the worker is available to the family, if needed, and/or that he/she will return at a mutually convenient time.