Crisis Intervention

Crisis intervention is a major component of school social work practice. This chapter discusses two crises that school social workers may face: suicidal ideation and natural and human-caused disasters. Due to the amount of time children spend at school, schools play an essential component in identifying suicide risk. A case vignette is presented alongside methods that school social workers can use to strengthen suicide prevention. The importance of using methods sensitive to race and ethnicity of diverse student populations is stressed. The second part of the chapter discusses methods to identify and address the multiple needs of the school community after a disaster. Special attention is given to addressing the disproportionate impacts that disasters have on communities of color and those who are economically disadvantaged.

How to Become Indispensable and Stay Relevant

School social workers are indispensable due to the menu of services they offer to students, the school, and the community and their unique knowledge base, which encompasses cultural responsiveness, theory (crisis intervention, ecological framework, systems theory, and strengths-based approaches), practice skills, and ability to connect and collaborate within an interdisciplinary team of professionals. Social workers can bring distinct and desirable perspectives to groups of educators. This chapter provides suggestions on how school social workers can find respect by, for example, honing their leadership skills, offering solution-focused perspectives, and advocating for the profession. This chapter offers guidance for those new to the field regarding how to showcase their social work perspective to help meet school-based and community needs.

Models of crisis intervention in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

On the basis of the analysis of foreign theories the basic and extended theory of crisis is described. The crisis is perceived by man as unbearable difficulties that deplete the resources of endurance and disrupt the mechanisms of overcoming difficulties. The basic theory of crisis postulates emergency psychological assistance to help a person in crisis in terms of awareness and treatment of affective, behavioral and cognitive disorders. The extended theory of crisis emphasizes the occurrence of pathological symptoms in each person with the right combination of developmental factors, social, psychological, and situational factors. The following models of crisis intervention are given: he model of balance / imbalance; the cognitive model; the model of psychosocial transformation; the model of ecological development. There are revealed crisis intervention models, which combine the following tasks: focusing on stabilizing the symptoms of distress, alleviating symptoms, restoring the adaptive stage of functioning and facilitating access to further support for the victim. Keywords:crisis intervention, crisis interventions, crisis theory, short-term crisis therapy, crisis intervention models