The interview is about critical incident crisis management among children. A critical incident refers to an event or series of events that threatened human welfare and potentially results in loss of human life or life-threatening injury or illness. Accordingly, critical incident crisis management among children refers to measures and protocols aimed at enabling the children that are impacted by critical incidents to cope up with the crisis with the objective of restoring them to their initial functioning (European Interagency Security Forum (EISF), 2014). This paper reflects on the issues brought out in the interview and the connection thereof with the emerging trends in the critical incident crisis management among children.
The interviewee in question is endowed with 25 years of experience in supervision of crisis response that deals with Acute Stress Disorder among children because of having been removed from their homes or expelled from school and incidences where a child dies at school or cases of accidents at school (Turner, 2016). Such disorders manifest themselves in the form of “anxiety, tendency to distance, detach, and disconnect from others and other acute symptoms that usually occur within one month after exposure to an extreme traumatic stressor.” (Thompson, 2004, p. 29). She also points out that they follow protocols in discharging their duties. However, she insists that the protocols are not necessarily modeled on conventional counseling. She illustrates how they intervene in a crisis by citing a school death. Here, a team of crisis managers would visit the school to intervene. Protocol such as Sudden Loss Intervention is used. It seeks to assess and restore a child’s functioning, assist in planning, mobilization of resources and provision of referrals in appropriate cases. (Johnson & Stephers, 2000, p. 79). The size of the team is determined by the number of people impacted. Once they are in school, they will have the session with the groups and individuals that are impacted by the loss (Turner, 2016). This is due to the fact that sudden Loss Intervention just like other crisis interventions can take place both in individual and group contexts (Johnson & Stephers, 2000). In the sessions, they will encourage the students to discuss what they know and express their emotions so as to help them manage their grief and the feelings they are experiencing from their loss effectively. Besides, they give them information on seeking further assistance where necessary. After that, they will come back for a debrief session.
She has training in critical incidence crisis management and practice intervention (Turner, 2016). She emphasizes the fact that basic training is imperative to practice her line of work. In addition, refresher training cannot be dispensed with if one needs to keep abreast with the emerging trends in the field (Turner, 2016).
In addition, collaboration with other stakeholders plays a critical role in crisis intervention among children. To this end, medical correctional and mental health providers have proved to be valuable partners. School nurses and counselors for instance have been found to be highly experienced in “psychosocial stress and emotional/behavioral difficulties in youth.” Therefore, they can play a crucial role in identifying children in need of mental health servicer concerning internalization of disturbances such as depression and anxiety (Ghuman & Sarles, 1998, p. 351).
Furthermore, efforts by non-governmental organizations in helping address acute stress disorder among children are not without challenges. Since they are not publicly funded mandates, they are forced to rely on donor funding to carry out their operations and meet their expenses. As a result, they are forced to adopt the policies and protocols stipulated by their donors. Such policies may not necessarily be effective in some instances because in most cases they are developed by people who are not endowed with the essential expertise in the area. Since they have expectations on them, at times they have to do things the way the donors ant them to as opposed to how they deem fit themselves. Consequently, it cripples the morale of the practitioners and in some cases attributable for the ineffectiveness of crisis response among children by non-governmental services (Turner, 2016).
In addition, she emphasizes the need for the society to pursue the field due to the fact that children are affected by crises just like adults do. However, children are at significantly higher risk as opposed to adults due to the fact that they are unable to process abstract concepts like they do factual observations. As such they find it more difficult to cope with crisis with abstract elements such as death. Moreover, children who are adolescents are at a volatile phase of transition in the human cycle of development. Accordingly, they are differently impacted by traumatic stressors (James & Gilliland, 2013, p. 499). Therefore, the society needs to focus on implementing crisis intervention in critical incidences by which children are affected in equal measure as it applies to adults.
In conclusion, prevention mechanisms are recommended over intervention. Overall public investment in children mental wellness is one strategy that will go a long way in ensuring that children are able to receive appropriate programmes, services and timely assistance. As a result, avoidable interventions can be avoided and significant resources saved. However, since there will always be crises even in the most advanced of disorder prevention mechanisms, it is essential that intervention mechanisms are put in place (Children’s Health Policy Centre, 2013).
References
Children’s Health Policy Centre. (2013). Addressing Acute Mental Crises. Retrieved April 20, 2016, from Children's Mental Health Research Quarterly: http://childhealthpolicy.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/RQ-3-13-Summer.pdf
European Interagency Security Forum (EISF). (2014, September). Crisis Management of Critical Incidents. Retrieved April 20, 2016, from European Interagency Security Forum (EISF): https://www.eisf.eu/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/0121-Buth-2010-Crisis-Management-of-Critical-incident-2010.pdf
Ghuman, H. S., & Sarles, R. M. (1998). Handbook of Child and Adolescent Outpatient, Day Treatment and Communty Psychiatry. New York: Taylor & Francis.
James, R. K., & Gilliland, B. E. (2013). Crisis Intervention Strategies. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.
Johnson, K., & Stephers, R. D. (2000). School Crisis Management: A Hands-on Guide to Training Crisis Response Teams. Alameda CA: Hunter House Publisher.
Thompson, R. (2004). Crisis Intervention and Crisis Management: Strategies that Work in Schools. New York: Brnunner-Routledge Publishers.
Turner, C. (2016, April 19). Interview Session. Retrieved April 20, 2016, from You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-NCVl2n5O0&feature=youtu.be
