Running Head: CRISIS MANAGEMENT
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Crisis Case Management Paper
for
Intervention Season 15 Episode 3
Angela R. Murphy (ID# 26588728)
Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary
PACO 604 LUO (Spring 2016)
Crisis Counseling and Brief Therapy
April 29, 2016
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
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This crisis management paper is in response to an episode of “Intervention”. Intervention
is a show that airs on Arts & Entertainment (A&E) and has 15 seasons worth of episodes. The
episode used for this paper is titled “Anne & Digger” and originally aired on March 27, 2016.
The paper will address the nature of the crisis, alleviating the crises, coping skills and resiliency.
The paper will focus on 34-year-old Digger who is currently suffering from heroin addiction.
Nature of the Crises
According to James and Gilliland (Liberty, 2016) there are five types of crisis. Digger’s
initial crisis event was developmental in nature when as a young child is parents divorced. At
that point, Digger began dealing with his losses through the use and abuse of alcohol and drugs.
This behavior was modeled for him by both his parents and was his only coping skill for dealing
with emotions associated with trauma. Digger is sexually assaulted beginning at the age of 10.
When he can’t verbalize his fear and pain to his alcoholic father he begins to mimic the father’s
behavior and finds a pseudo relief. At the point of his intervention, he is in the midst of an
existential crisis. His core belief and value system indicates that his children should be his first
priority but that his “day is driven by heroin.” When Digger is sober he can articulate his desire
to put his children first in his life and be there for them. He is even able to communicate with
them about the desire to be a family again since his mother has custody of the children.
However, the heroin has a hold on his life that is impossible for him to break without assistance.
Additionally, Digger faces interpersonal crisis with his wife. Digger believes in his marriage and
professes to love his wife despite her having left him for another man. Digger maintains that his
love is pure despite the dysfunction of the relationship that occurs as they both continue to be
drug-seeking first in everything.
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Alleviating the Crisis
In order for Digger to alleviate his crisis he will need to address his addiction first.
Specifically, this will require a period of “drying out” his system. While Digger is desiring a
relationship with his children, he must first deal with his presenting issue of medicating his
emotions. In order to be successful in removing the physical addiction he will require an inpatient facility that specializes in addiction recovery. Clearing the brain to be able to think will
be paramount for Digger to begin to deal with his crisis regarding his children. Additionally, if
Digger is able to achieve sobriety he will avert the potential crisis of his death at his own hand.
When faced with trying to alleviate the crisis on his own, Digger is not capable of removing
himself from his toxic environment. His entire support system is filled with current and former
addicts. His father, wife and best friend make up his social support network. They are all in
their own states of crisis and unable to assist Digger with resolving his own. According to
Wright, crisis generally has to correct itself to a state of non-crisis within six weeks (Wright,
2012, pg. 132). This is not try with the author’s experience of addicts. Crisis becomes their
normal and they are not able to see that they live in a state of constant crisis. Removal from the
toxic environment is the only way to awaken Digger’s own brain to the reality that he is in crisis
currently, and a treatment facility will allow him to recognize his true situation.
Coping Skills
Addicts have a tough road to recovery. The people who successfully stay sober have to
develop a whole new set of coping skills. Specifically, for Digger he has to learn how to handle
feeling a normal range of human emotion. Like a child, Digger must learn to correctly identify
the emotion he is feeling, the cause of this emotion and how to respond in a healthy way. For
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example, when he feels anger at his wife for being unfaithful, he will need to be able to think
through this emotional experience and prepare a response. Learning to identify the emotions and
causes can happen in a variety of ways. Digger may find that fine art like drawing, writing in a
journal or music allows him to verbalize to himself the emotion and then determine his response.
As he grows in his ability to identify the emotion, the art may be his response. Additionally,
Digger will need coping skills for quite some time to help him deal with his psychological
addiction to heroin. Many addicts turn to healthier pursuits, like running, martial arts,
weightlifting, to work through cravings and idle time which can lead to relapse. Former
methamphetamine and alcohol addict Tom Murphy commented that “if I could run till I dropped
then I could sleep and generally when I woke up the craving is gone.” (Murphy, 2016).
Additionally, Digger will need to learn to find non-toxic relationships. Learning the signs of
addictive behavior and his personal triggers to return to addiction will help him to determine who
might be a good asset in his social circle and who to avoid. Having someone to call to talk you
through a craving or moment of weakness is a necessity for many addicts in recovery. When
addicts try to do it alone most often they fail and developing a social system to support them in a
key coping skill.
Resiliency
In the episode, Digger suffers a relapse which is not an uncommon situation on the road
to recovery. Digger makes large strides toward resiliency when he is able to self-identify that he
needs to return to a treatment center to start again. For Digger, this ability to start fresh each day
will be critical to his long term recovery. His initial crisis was compounded by his inability to
voice the loss, grieve and heal. If he is to develop long term success in life, he will need to be
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able to let go of the day to day hurts and problems of life and not hold them until they compound
to his need to isolate and medicate himself from his emotions. With addiction, life has to be
lived one moment at a time during the initial re-training period. Sobriety is earned in hours, then
days, then weeks, months and years. Digger will learn to be more resilient in life if he continues
to measure success in smaller increments. Daily successes can build to weekly and monthly
victories. But starting with goals of monthly victories or yearly goals is sometimes
overwhelming to the newly recovered addict. Building resiliency will be a product of doing it
right every time. For former addict Tom Murphy, it was a process of only changing one thing in
his life, everything. When everything has to change in order to survive, the addict must be able to
see victory in the tiniest of actions. Each tiny win builds on the other and leads to long term
resiliency. Digger is well on his way by being able to identify his failures as well. There will be
times when he falls down but being able to pick himself back up and not stay down is key to
being successful in the end.
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References
Field, P (Writer) & Burney, T. (Director). (2016) Anne & Digger [Television series episode].
Banz, G. R., Brandon, M, Weaver, J.L. (Executive Producers), Intervention Los Angeles,
CA. A&E.
Liberty University (2016). Introduction to Crisis Counseling. Received from
https://learn.liberty.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-11960265-dt-content-rid95243655_1/courses/PACO604_D03_201620/PACO604_Presentations/Introduction%20
to%20Crisis%20Counseling%20%28LMS%29/res/index.html
Murphy, T. April, 27, 2016. Face to face interview.
Wright, D. H. (2014). The Complete Guide to Crisis & Trauma Counseling: What to do and Say
When it matters Most. Bloomington, Minnesota: Bethany House Publishers.
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CRISIS CASE MANAGEMENT PAPER GRADING RUBRIC
Name: Angela Murphy
Points
Possible
Criteria
General
Paper adheres to APA formatting (title page, citations, references
page, etc.)
10
Writing is clear with appropriate grammar, spelling, and punctuation
Headings are appropriately labeled
10
Nature of the Crisis (300 words)
Identifies the nature of the crisis for the family member
10
Distinguishes the type of crisis (i.e. developmental, situational,
existential, interpersonal, spiritual)
10
Alleviating the Crisis (300 words)
Delineates an appropriate model of crisis care
10
Appropriate strategies are considered for alleviating the crisis
10
Teaching Coping Skills (300 words)
Offers teachable coping skills for the client to learn from the crisis
20
Developing Resiliency (300 words)
Provides specific approaches toward developing resiliency
20
Total
Instructor’s comments:
100
Points
Earned