CCMH 558 Wk 1 Discussion – Ethics of Crisis Work

Post a total of 3 substantive responses over 2 separate days for full participation. This includes your initial post and 2 replies to classmates or your faculty member.

Due Thursday

Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words:

When disaster strikes your own community, being a part of a crisis response team can mean encountering friends, family, coworkers, and other community members familiar to you. In such an event, counselors must consider the ethics of the situation to conduct effective crisis work.

Imagine that you are a crisis counselor responding to an area that has been devastated by flooding. You and your team have set up a mobile crisis response center and are working with walk-in clients from the community. The first client who comes to see you for the walk-in is your barber or hair stylist, who explains that they have lost everything in the flood and are unable to locate their family pet. They express feelings of despair, hopelessness, and helplessness.

• What are some ethical implications for working with this client?
• How would you handle assessing this client’s risk?

Due Monday

Post 2 replies to classmates or your faculty member. Be constructive and professional.

CCMH 558 Wk 2 Discussion – Ethical Application of Crisis Intervention Models

Post a total of 3 substantive responses over 2 separate days for full participation. This includes your initial post and 2 replies to classmates or your faculty member.

Due Thursday

Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words:

Natural disasters are very unpredictable and can strike at any time. Some communities have an established crisis response team and crisis intervention plan, while other communities may not be as prepared. There are times when a crisis response team is activated at a moment’s notice without any plan in place. For the following discussion, consider how you might handle being a part of a newly activated team that has little to no direction on what type of crisis response to implement.

You work for an agency where a natural disaster has struck in your current community. (Choose a natural disaster that is relevant to your local area to use as an example, such as an earthquake, flooding, fires, tornado, hurricane, snow, etc.). You and your team are meeting to decide the best way to support individuals in crisis (e.g., set up a mobile crisis center team to respond in person, create a telehealth crisis hotline to reach people remotely). Justify your position using scholarly resources and data from your local area.

• Which response would you choose? Why?
• Which treatment model do you think is most appropriate in this situation? Why?
• What ethical considerations should you make in this situation?
• How does your geographical area, the characteristics of your community, and availability of resources influence your approach to a response strategy?

Due Monday

Post 2 replies to classmates or your faculty member. Be constructive and professional.

CCMH 558 Wk 3 Discussion – Personal and Cultural Crisis

Post a total of 3 substantive responses over 2 separate days for full participation. This includes your initial post and 2 replies to classmates or your faculty member.

Due Thursday

Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words:

As a crisis counselor, you might encounter a client who is experiencing a crisis related to incongruence between their personal values and beliefs and those of their culture. When working with these clients, it is important for the counselor to seek understanding about the client’s culture and the conflict they are experiencing.

Read the following case study and then answer the questions that follow:

Nasir is a 26-year-old Pakistani male who has come to see you regarding his recent experience of suicidal ideations. He reports that these thoughts have surfaced over the past week, and he is really scared because he is not sure if he would follow through on the thoughts. 

Nasir explains that he is the only child of self-made immigrants and is the only one in his family to have grown up in the United States. He admits that he is currently in a deeply loving relationship with an American; however, his parents have arranged for him to marry someone else from within their faith community. He has not disclosed to his family that he is dating someone, as he believes it will shame the family. He explains that, for a moment, for the first time in his life, he had felt free, but that his parents contacted him recently to tell him that it is now time for him to meet and marry the chosen woman in 3 weeks.

Nasir describes feeling torn, overwhelmed, and hopeless. He explains that, if he does not go through with the arranged marriage, he will disrespect and dishonor his family, and believes that the only way out is to end his life. He states, “If I dishonor them, I have nothing, but if I deny my heart, I still have nothing.” 

• What are the ethical and cultural implications of working with this client?
• If you were the counselor in this situation, what other questions would you have for this client?
• What are some culturally relevant resources in your local community that you could refer the client to for additional support?

Due Monday

Post 2 replies to classmates or your faculty member. Be constructive and professional.

CCMH 558 Wk 4 Discussion – Reducing Risks of Burnout

Post a total of 3 substantive responses over 2 separate days for full participation. This includes your initial post and 2 replies to classmates or your faculty member.

Due Thursday

Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words:

One role of a trained crisis counselor includes working for a crisis hotline. Crisis hotlines are call centers that take phone calls from individuals experiencing various type of crises or trauma. For example, there are hotlines specifically for individuals experiencing suicidal thoughts, for survivors of sexual assault, for veterans, and for mobilizing mobile crisis outreach teams. When working at these hotlines, counselors intercept back-to-back crisis-related calls for their entire shift. Long hours spent hearing about clients’ traumatic experiences, intervening when clients present as suicidal, and making decisions about high-risk crisis situations can be very taxing on a counselor.

How might counselors who work with high-risk clients experience vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, and burnout? What might self-care look like for a counselor in this situation? What strategies might a counselor use to prevent experiencing vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, or burnout in the future? Which other professionals might face a similar risk in the counseling field?

Due Monday

Post 2 replies to classmates or your faculty member. Be constructive and professional.

CCMH 558 Wk 5 Discussion – Telehealth Crisis Response

Post a total of 3 substantive responses over 2 separate days for full participation. This includes your initial post and 2 replies to classmates or your faculty member.

Due Thursday

Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words:

As the need continues to rise for increased accessibility of services, there are more options available for using telehealth. Since telehealth counselors are not in the same location as their clients, it is important to obtain a client’s current physical location if safety concerns come up during a session.

Watch the following excerpt from a telehealth intake assessment with a client who has experienced significant trauma and loss. The client has reached out to her employee assistance counselor after being urged by her supervisor to seek help.

Note: A transcript of the video is available.

What are some considerations that a counselor must make when conducting a telehealth session? Is there anything that concerns you about observing or interpreting a client’s mood, affect, vocal tone, or body language using telehealth? What are some goals that you might include in this client’s safety plan? What resources local to your area might you offer this client?

Due Monday

Post 2 replies to classmates or your faculty member. Be constructive and professional.

CCMH 558 Wk 6 Discussion – Assessing Risk During Intake

Post a total of 3 substantive responses over 2 separate days for full participation. This includes your initial post and 2 replies to classmates or your faculty member.

Due Thursday

Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words:

When meeting with a client for the first time, a counselor typically asks some standard questions to gather information about the presenting issues and complete the biopsychosocial assessment. When engaging in crisis response, sometimes an intake moves so quickly or is so chaotic that the counselor may not gather as much information as they would have liked. Respond to the following questions after watching “Suicide Risk Intake Assessment.”

• What are some additional questions that the counselor could ask this client?
• What cultural factors might influence the professional counseling relationship between counselor and client in this scenario?
• After the client’s phone call intervention, what should be the next steps? How should the counselor follow up with this client?

Note: A transcript of the video is available.

Due Monday

Post 2 replies to classmates or your faculty member. Be constructive and profes