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Running head: A FUTURE TREND IN CRISIS INTERVENTION A Future Trend in Crisis Intervention Your Name HERE University of Phoenix Mental Health and Crisis Interventions BSHS 471 INSTRUCTOR HERE DATE HERE A Future Trend in Crisis Intervention As the population in the United States continues to climb the need for human services professionals does the same. Human service agencies are often face the dilemmas of being over-worked and under paid. Professionals in this field are often prone to burnout because of these dilemmas. Sadly, human service agencies are often the first to experience budget cuts.
These budget cuts affect the human service professional’s organization, facility, coworkers, pay, clients, and their personal moral. Leading officials of many human service organizations are noticing the affects of these dilemmas and are trying proactive approaches in solving the epidemics. As a result, the paraprofessional is becoming increasingly popular as they can fill the much needed worker positions, assist in alleviating clinician caseload, assist in keeping up with the demand of services, and one of the most important business reasons is to save the organization valuable budget money.
The following will be discussed in this paper: The future trend of the paraprofessional in human services, the impact of this trend on the human services field and how the trend will impact the practice of crisis intervention in the human service. Furthermore, the challenges faced as a result of the impact, and how the human services worker can proactively deal with this expanding trend will also be addressed. The Paraprofessional Paraprofessionals in the human services field can be considered both an important asset and a nuisance to the clinicians and the clients served.
One of the many benefits of the paraprofessional in the human service career field could be that they require less training than typical clinician or other human service professional. The paraprofessional has the potential to lessen the demand for services thus lessening clinician caseload and boosting their moral. Lessening the caseload could prove beneficial in allowing clinicians to prioritize cases and assist those with the greatest needs.
Another benefit to increased use of paraprofessionals in the human services field is organizational budgets could be spread further by hiring more workers at less pay. A larger number of clients could be seen in one day. This could potentially bring in more income through insurances, grants, Medicaid, and other funders. Nonetheless, the paraprofessional has potential downfalls that should be taken seriously when considering the spectrum of services they will be rendering. Supporters of the paraprofessional believe that anyone can be effective in human services with the right training. Effective crisis intervention can be conducted by undergraduate student trainees or community volunteers as well as by graduate-level students and professional counselors if their training is appropriate and they are properly supervised. ” (Kanel, 2003, p. 64) Trained clinicians undergo years of education and training to serve clients affectively. Critics may argue that this education and training cannot be replicated through accelerated courses for the paraprofessional. Furthermore, it could be argued that the impact from this lack of education and training may affect the area of crisis intervention the most.
Crisis Intervention Years of education and training help prepare the clinician for one of human services most complicated and frequent services, crisis intervention. Crises can be similar in comparison (e. g. job loss, divorce, suicidal thoughts) but every crisis is unique in circumstances. Because of the uniqueness of each crisis there are no set rules or guidelines to follow when helping a client in crisis. The paraprofessional like the professional is in a position to help guide the client through the crisis or unfortunately push the client further into crisis.
Some paraprofessionals will have the natural ability to connect and work with those in crisis. This natural ability paired with his or her training will make them competent to handle crisis. Incidentally, there will also be those who pursue the human service paraprofessional career field for the wrong reasons and they will not be able to be affective while assisting those in crisis. These individuals could potentially cause more harm than good for the client or clients in crisis. This especially applies in the case of suicide. The following quote supports this idea.
Suicide does not generally come without warning. Almost always, persons considering it show symptoms or provide clues to their intent. It is important, however, for crisis workers to know how to read these and be able to distinguish between myth and reality. (Kanel, 2003, p. 76) Trend Challenges Ineffective workers exist in every career field. The difference may be that with a paraprofessional opportunity people may view it as a “quick-fix” for a good job. These types of workers are hard to identify until he or she begins working directly with clients.
At this point it may be hard or even impossible to identify and intervene on possible ineffective approaches used by the paraprofessional. During crisis, there will likely not be a second chance at proper intervention. Paraprofessionals will likely have direct supervision from professional clinicians. This will help ensure the quality of services being rendered as well as a reference point for the paraprofessional to turn to with questions. Because the human service paraprofessional is a new trend there may be some initial doubt in the capabilities he or she is able to perform.
This doubt may come from clinicians, the public, and clients. The paraprofessional will have to work hard to gain the trust so needed to be effective in the position. The Proactive Professional Current and future clinicians should take a proactive approach to the new trend. The ever-increasing demand for assistance leaves human service leading officials in a pressuring dilemma. This dilemma has resulted in the increased consideration of bringing on more paraprofessionals for the sake of the organization, clinician, and clients.
With this in mind, the clinicians should attempt to embrace the new trend rather than dismiss it as ineffective. Furthermore, they should attempt to be mentors to the paraprofessionals and provide continual reinforcements to promote success. Staff, especially those who are still new to the field, may lack self-confidence that they can use their knowledge and skills correctly. Frequently, mental health workers feel more comfortable if they have access to a consultant with whom they can freely review how an incident was handled and discuss how to improve their techniques. Scileppi, Teed, & Torres, 2000, p. 128) Regular meetings should be held between the clinician and the paraprofessional. During this meeting each of the paraprofessional’s cases should be reviewed and discussed. This could provide valuable insight and options to the paraprofessional as well as gauge his or her ability to manage the cases effectively. In organizations with several paraprofessionals, teams could be formed in which each clinician is assigned a reasonable number of paraprofessionals to oversee. Regular staff meetings and trainings should be facilitated for the organizations staff.
This will encourage productivity and effective communication between all staffs. Conclusion Human service professionals face unique dilemmas in providing the much needed services to clients. Increased demand has current clinicians juggling high caseloads as well as high burnout rates. Through the future trend of human service paraprofessionals valuable budget dollars can be saved, clinician caseloads can be lessened, clinician moral can be increased, and more clients can be served. Despite the many benefits of the future paraprofessional trend some concerning issues do exist.
The clinician pursues years of education and training to be effective while working with clients. This same education and training prepares the clinician to intervene in crisis situations effectively. One of the primary concerns with the future trend of paraprofessionals is that the career maybe pursued by people looking to obtain a good job in a quick manner. These individuals may be less than effective during their interventions with clients in crisis. During crisis, a second chance at proper intervention may not happen.
Because the human service paraprofessional is a new trend, an initial lack of trust may be felt by clinicians, the public, and the clients. Through proper supervision and mentoring the clinician can provide the paraprofessional with additional tools needed to succeed in crisis interventions. References Kanel, K. (2003). When Crisis Is A Danger. In L. Sincere (Ed. ), A Guide To Crisis Intervention (p. 76). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole. Scileppi, J. A. , Teed, E. L. , & Torres, R. D. (2000). Consultation. In N. Roberts (Ed. ), Community Psychology- A Common Sense Approach to Mental Health (p. 128). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.