Application: Case Study: Applying Crisis Intervention Models, Skills, and Strategies

One of the reasons models of crisis intervention are so valuable in the human services field is because they provide professionals with a cohesive body of skills and strategies to be applied during interventions. Crises are dynamic, unpredictable, and even volatile in nature. Situations, and individuals within these situations, constantly change, often in unforeseeable ways. Thus, human services professionals must have a wide array of skills and strategies at their disposal, and be prepared to shift gears and improvise as needed. They must be compassionate, sensitive, focused, and professional. They must be effective communicators, assertive advocates, and, most of all, creative problem solvers. As the intervention models reflect, many crises share patterns that can be anticipated and addressed. Yet every crisis is also unique, meaning human services professionals must be ready to tailor their care to the distinctive needs, both long-term and short-term, of their clients. This means that human services professionals arrive in the lives of their clients fully prepared to assess their needs and determine what skills and strategies are most likely to meet these needs. In this assignment, you begin to think like a human services professional by reading a case study and then considering how you might assess the clients’ needs as well as the models, skills, and strategies required to help the family in the case study.

To prepare for this assignment:

• Review Chapter 3 and 4 in your course text, Crisis Intervention Strategies, noting the skills involved in executing the six-step model of crisis intervention, as well as other basic skills and strategies used in crisis intervention.
• Review Chapter 5 in your course text, Crisis Intervention Strategies, focusing on the skills and strategies that are utilized in crisis case handling.
• Review the video programs, “Borderline” and “Crisis Line,” focusing on the specific skills and strategies that the human services professionals use to assist their clients.
• Review the article, “Comparative Analysis of Three Crisis Intervention Models Applied to Law Enforcement First Responders During 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina,” as well as the article(s) you selected to read for the Discussion from the four options provided. Focus on the skills that a human services professional would need in order to carry out the steps in each model, particularly the assessment of a client’s needs.
• Read the case study that follows. As you read, consider the needs of the Rodriguez family, as well as how you would address these needs using the models, skills, and strategies you have learned about this week.

Case Study: The Rodriguez Family
You are a human services professional at an emergency shelter. A major flood has recently occurred in a nearby community, destroying many homes and businesses. Your new clients are the Rodriguez family: father, Michael; mother, Sarah; and twin 9-year-old daughters, Cynthia and Mary. The Rodriguez family has lost their home in the flood, and does not have flood insurance. In addition, the family’s livelihood has been compromised because the restaurant where Sarah worked was destroyed in the flood. Michael is a full-time student, so the family has lost its only source of income.

The assignment (2 pages):

• Identify and briefly describe the crisis/es facing the Rodriguez family.
• Describe the basic needs that first must be addressed for the family.
• Describe what the family’s ongoing needs will be. Explain which issues will need to be addressed in order to remove the Rodriguez family from their current crisis/es.
• Explain which model(s) of intervention you might use to address the family’s basic and ongoing needs, and why.
• Select at least three specific skills and/or strategies that would assist you in implementing the model(s) you selected. Then explain how you might execute these skills and/or strategies and why they might be effective in addressing the family’s basic and ongoing needs.