There is a general feeling among scholars that crises are important aspects when working with people with distress and difficulties in life (Kaplan & Girard, 1994). A crisis is defined as a turning point with a situation that pushes the usual coping mechanisms in people beyond their effectiveness limits and necessitates different responses as well as a different coping strategy. Crisis intervention is defined as an approach premised on the fact that crises play a critical role for situational aspects that help individuals in various situations. This is approach is best exemplified by a situation where the health worker analyses the nature, implications and basis of the crisis so as to reduce the negative impacts that may arise due to increased costs. People experiencing crises encounter a series of situations which make them alter their patterns of living and the most important key element of people in crises is to conduct the forces carefully beyond their control to be left in a better condition (Krabbenborg, Boersma, & Wolf, (2013).
This paper is based on strengths-based crisis intervention that will help Emily, who is a cancer patient in improving her overall life satisfaction. Through this intervention approach, the client will be introduced to the idea of writing down the four top things that she looks forward daily to achieve with the intent of making Emily get positivity as thus see the possibilities of making the best situation as from the research she has a history of making it through from the worst. This approach will help her enhance her chances to persevere as well as pull through the recent cancer diagnosis.
Overview of the case
Emily is a single mother of two boys who prior to her admission to the hospital was living a middle-income neighborhood. Recently, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and at the same time lost her job. For this reason, she considers suicide for she is of the opinion that she will be unable to care he children since she thinks cancer is a death condemnation. She says that her own people have left her and that she lacks money to continue with proper medication that would give her hopes of recovering since she has spent most savings on the last cancer procedure. The matters have been complicated by the fact that the can medication she has been undergoing is taxing and overwhelming for her given the side effects. These situations have all created a crisis in her life that this strengths-based crisis intervention approach aims at helping her push through.
Core principles
The core principles in Strengths-based crisis intervention programs include the absolute belief that individuals have a potential which is their unique capabilities and strengths that determine their evolving story as well as who they are. It focuses on one’s realities but not labels where changes are viewed as capacity fostering that creates optimism and hope. For care providers and their clients, the language they use creates their reality. It has the principles that change is ultimately inevitable, and thus individuals must have the urge to explore the environment and thus make themselves useful to their communities (Saleebey, 2006). It also assumes that positive changes only our in authentic relationships in which case, the client, and the caregiver have a facilitating and transactional process for change management and capacity building rather than fixing. For the care giver's a customer's perspective is the primarily to start and value change process rather than the experts knowledge (Early & GlenMaye, 2000). People are more comfortable and confident with a journey to their future when they start it with what they already know. Other principles include that capacity building is viewed as a life-long journey which is dynamic rather than a static goal and process. In this scenario, as a crisis clinician, my responsibility is to respond to Emily’s challenges as well as make critical decisions on her behalf. It will incorporate an assessment of Emily’s problems and resources, suggest alternative coping methods and set goals, develop a working relationship, and build upon Emily’s strengths. This is best carried out if I manage to build a rapport with Emily and identify the failed coping skills that she lacks so as to help her replace them with other adaptive coping skills.
Using the seven staged crisis intervention model, the first stage is psychosocial and lethality assessment where I will conduct a swift bio-psychosocial assessment that will cover Emily’s environmental stress, support and external and internal methods. This will entail asking Emily about her feelings and thoughts through questions such as what have you achieved in life? What have you done to change your suicidal thoughts? What comes naturally for you to do? And when things go well in life, at that time what is happening? These questions will be important in helping Emily to discover her strengths and use them to solve the current crisis (Nissen et al., 2005).
Creating relationship
Stage two of the strength based crisis intervention model involves facilitating my presence and solution to Emily as genuine, respecting her being so that she can accept my plan. I will use Emily’s strengths so as to instill confidence and trust by maintaining eye contact with her, being nonjudgmental, maintain positive mental attitude and reinforcing Emily’s resilience and small gains when she is coping up with her crisis (Saleebey, 2001). The third stage will involve identifying the crisis precipitants that are cancer diagnosis and lack of family support. Dealing with emotions and feelings stage is a situation where I will strive to allow the crisis to express her feelings and heal. This I will do by allowing Emily to write her four major things she looks forward to achieving daily that she will review with me at the end of the week for the achievements and failures she has overcome. I will ask Emily to describe how she feels about the program and if she is satisfied with her progress. The fifth stage will involve generating and exploring alternatives where I will seek to explore other coping strategies if strengths-based approach backfires for Emily's case. These alternatives include; choices of finding an alternative job, no suicide contract and applying for funds assistance from the national government for health benefits program.
Interventions
The next stage is the implementation of an action plan where the crisis will move to resolution where I will use interventions such as negotiating safety with Emily such as no suicide agreement problem, scheduling meetings with her family and friends weekly to alleviate fears that Emily has no real people whom she can converse with to share her fears and her strengths. I will arrange for weekly meetings with her boys so as to given her hope that they are doing well and that someone is taking care of them from her own family. The school where her children are schooling will be engaged to ensure that the children are comfortable when their mother is at hospital.
Evaluation
The follow-up stage in Emily' case involves evaluating post-crisis intervention status through assessing more current stressors, need for referrals such need for more medical funds from the government, assessment of overall performance of Emily in her health, family and social life (Saleebey, 2001). This includes assessing the number of times that Emily is visiting her friends and family members since the beginning of the intervention as well as evaluating the attitude of Emily to her cancer diagnosis. This is in addition to assessing how Emily has been responding to the treatment.
References
Early, T., & GlenMaye, L. (2000). Valuing families: social work practice from a strengths perspective. Social Work, 45(2), 118-130
Kaplan, L., & Girard, J. L. (1994). Strengthening high-risk families: A handbook for practitioners. New York: Lexington Books.
Krabbenborg, M. A., Boersma, S., & Wolf, J. R. (2013). A strengths based method for homeless youth: Effectiveness and fidelity of Houvast. BMC Public Health, 13, 359-369.
Nissen, L. B., Mackin, J. R., Weller, J. M. & Tarte, J. M. (2005). Identifying strengths as fuel for change: A conceptual and theoretical framework for the youth competency assessment. Juvenile and Family Court Journal, 1-15.
Saleebey D (ed) (2001) Practicing the strengths perspective: Everyday tools and resources, Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Human Services, 82, 221-222
Saleebey D (ed) (2006) The strengths perspective in social work practice, (4th Ed) Boston: Pearson Education.
