Chapter 1: Approaching Crisis Intervention
Exercise 1. The paradox of crisis
Crisis is replete with paradoxes. It has both danger and opportunity, as well as a need for fast
responses—and yet there are no quick fixes. It is universal, yet idiosyncratic. How can these be true?
Divide the class into pairs. Have each person discuss with his/her partner a crisis that has occurred in his
or her life. The crisis should be in the distant past. The emphasis should be not so much on the crisis but
on the paradoxes it presented. Looking back on the crisis, how does it now appear different than it was
immediately after it happened? Many people will find that for the first time there is not just a bad, awful
side to the crisis, but one that is positive and does involve growth and change.
Exercise 2. The Equilibrium Model
The Equilibrium Model is probably the most popular crisis intervention model and the
disequilibrium that occurs with a crisis is one of the most popular ways of defining it. Again with the class
in pairs, have each person draw a large seesaw on a sheet of paper and put all of the thoughts, feelings,
and behaviors that went with it on one side. That side should be severely titled when you are done. Now,
looking back on it, what would it take for the seesaw to return to normal? What would you put on the other
side? Think not just in terms of things, but of people as well.
Exercise 3. Differentiating crisis from transcrisis
To experience and differentiate between crisis and transcrisis events, divide the class into pairs
and have them speak about a crisis they have experienced in their lives. The crisis should not be
presently occurring. It is not necessary to describe the crisis. Have them go back in time as if the crisis
had just happened and speak to how they felt, behaved, and thought. The partner is to remain fairly
passive. Open-ended questions and restatement may be used but emphasize that they are mainly to
listen to their partner. Then have them speak of the present. Has the crisis in their past caused them any
problems in the last month or so? Have there been any instigating stimuli that have caused this to
happen? Then bring the class together and have them discuss what they experienced in this activity.
Exercise 4. Role play: Starting a new crisis intervention program.
This activity will be videotaped and shown back to the class.
A hue and cry has arisen in regard to the problem of homeless homing pigeons in your
community. A population explosion has left many pigeons without coops or adequate feed. As a result,
pigeons are now making terrible messes downtown and are constantly accosting people for handouts.
Sometimes they have even become violent, and people have had to go to the emergency room for
pecking injuries. If this isn’t bad enough, lots of pigeons are now starting to appear in suburban
neighborhoods. Parents are increasingly afraid to let their children play outside and insurance company
premiums are going up because of pigeon waste falling on cars and houses. There is also an apparent
health risk as several dead pigeons have been found that had West Nile virus. The local newspaper has
been running heated editorials on the story and television crews have been reporting about the problems
on a daily basis. The Chamber of Commerce is concerned about the loss of business. The police
department doesn’t have time to take on this issue and resents being pulled into what they view as an
animal-control problem. Animal-control deals with stray dogs, cats and the occasional wayward bat and
raccoon but does not have the person-power to begin to deal with all these pigeons. The mayor has
asked you to bring interested parties together to confront this community crisis and come up with a
solution. As usual, there is little or no money available. The following representatives are seated around
the table:
1) Mayor’s action representative. This person reports directly to the mayor and is very sensitive to the
political ramifications of any action taken.
2) Local PETA president. This person it very concerned about the ethical treatment of animals and
does not want to see pigeons slaughtered.
3) President of large exterminator company. This person was called for expertise in handling large
infestations of blackbirds in a neighboring county.
4) Newspaper reporter from the Daily Beacon. This person has been covering the story and has
visions of a Pulitzer Prize.
5) Reporter from Channel Five who has been has been covering the story and has visions of going to
national television in New York City.
6) Police Department Captain who is tasked with any law enforcement action associated with the
problem but does not want to be involved.
7) County health official who is concerned about contagion and would like to use airborne detergent
sprays on the pigeons’ roosts to kill them all.
8) Ornithologist from the state university who is an expert on urban bird populations.
9) Animal control manager for the city who would rather not be involved in this at all and has no idea
what to do with tens of thousands of assaultive pigeons.
You are the facilitator of this group and your job is to come up with an action plan to present to
the mayor within one week. Start to videotape when you start the meeting. Videotape the meeting for ten
minutes while the rest of the class acts as observers and writes down what is going on. Specific class
members may be assigned to cover specific committee members. At the end of ten minutes, stop the
meeting and play the videotape. Engage in a general discussion about what you see as the problems,
both in the committee as a whole and in specific members in particular. What do you think the facilitator
needs to do?
Restart the meeting from the beginning. This time the facilitator will use the crisis intervention
skills she or he has learned thus far. Students will again monitor individual members. Two rules will be
instituted for the committee. First, each statement must start with an “I.” No “you,” “they,” “we,” or any
pronoun other than “I” is permitted as a starting word. The other rule is that before each person talks, he
or she must restate what the last person said and gain agreement from that person before beginning his
or her own statement. A referee will be appointed to stop the proceedings if either of these rules is
violated. At the end of ten minutes, stop and review the videotape. Answer the following questions:
a) What is the difference between session one and session two?
b) Why do you think the differences occurred?
c) What problems do you see in trying to put a group of diverse people with different
philosophies and agendas together to start a crisis intervention program?
d) Have the facilitator speak to his or her feelings about being cast in the role of bringing this
diverse group together and getting an action plan in operation.
e) How do you think you would react to the facilitator’s job in getting a new crisis
intervention program going?