Final Paper

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Final Paper

Introduction

A precise psychological care intended at providing assistance to an individual going through a crisis situation in order to reestablish their emotional stability and reduce the risk of long-term psychological trauma is termed as Crisis Intervention Counseling. This is basically established by refining the individuals coping strategies at the time of crisis. Crisis counseling is mainly done in three steps: assessment, planning and treatment. As a crisis intervention counseling, I have assessed the situation of Smith’s family and came up with certain strategies for them to cope up with the crisis. This paper will explore the possible stressors the Smith’s family is going through and recommendations to cope up with these stressors.

Discussion

The major stress that the smith’s family is going through is the deployment of Tom. Tom had recently returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. Upon hearing that he is again going to get deployed to Afghanistan, he becomes quite stressful. Another factor contributing towards this stressful situation is the death of his close friend who has recently died in a helicopter crash along with other militants. Tom seems to show an extreme emotional instability at this point which makes sense considering he has just lost his close friend who served with him and now he has to bear the memories of him. These stressors have a negative effect on the whole family as they are ultimately influencing the lives of other family members. Due to Tom’s alienation, he does not communicate with his family neither does he want to allow his children to go out. Children have started to misbehave and they are reluctant to take part in the daily tasks such as schools and extra co- curricular activities. Tom’s wife Mary also seems to be disturbed due to her husband and children acting weird. Her social life is quite affected by these stressful events and she is unable to talk to anyone about it. All of this has ultimately contributed towards making the environment of house more stressful.

There are certain coping strategies I would like to recommend to the family in order to deal with the crisis. First, I would recommend Tom to explore the reality of the situation. Nothing can change the fact that he is deployed to Afghanistan so he may as well accept this. Accepting truth means making sure that he has a credible perspective of his position. It dates to the paradigm of self-importance and resilience. When he will have a reliable view of events, he will be in a healthier position to control it. Secondly I would like to recommend an active communication between the family members. The major factor giving fuel to these stressors is the lack of communication between the family members. Tom needs to communicate with his wife and children and talks openly about his feelings. Talking can act as a catharsis for Tom and he may feel better. Both parents must start giving attention and care to their children as rebellious attitude has mainly emerged as a result of unnecessary restrictions laid by Tom. With the proper communication, not only will they be able to restore resilience among the children but it will also help Tom deal with his deployment issue. The family must believe in the optimism towards the outcome. This is one of the best coping strategies as It is easier to deal with the challenges of your life by trusting in your capacity to deal with your condition and having faith or trust in the people who support you. This will assist them to cope effectively if they adopt these practices combined with internal strategies.

Conclusion

Smith’s family is suffering from the major stressors that are negatively affecting the family such as Tom’s deployment and his friend’s death. This is in turn causing their children to develop negative attitude towards life. The family needs to accept the reality of the situation and communicate actively as a coping mechanism which can ultimately result in building resilience among the family.

Works Cited