Analysis: The ABCD Crisis Intervention Model

This module one of my favorites because I learned a lot and believe I will be able to make good use of what I learned if faced with that task to assist a victim of a crisis. There are a vast amount of crises; therefore, there are a lot of ways to manage them. Through this module I was able to discover some of the most common types of crises, two models that can help with a widespread of crises, and made some connections with crises that have happened in my lifetime. There are many different crisis so they can be defined in many ways. The most quality definition for a crisis I learned in the module was “an upset in a steady state, a critical turning point leading to better or worse, a disruption or breakdown in a person’s or family’s normal …show more content…
Two models I discovered while researching for this module were the ABCD crisis intervention model and the psychological first aid model. I lean towards these models because I believe as a firefighter that these models can be helpful with a broad spectrum of crisis situations. I found that the ABCD crisis intervention model covers a general approach for crisis intervention. The ABCD model is comprised of four steps; therefore, that is where the acronym ABCD comes from. A stands for achieve contact. In this step the responder introduces themself to the victim, lets them know that they will be safe, gathers information regarding residency, health conditions, family member contact, and any support systems or friends. Along with that the responder wants to ask the victim questions to identify their feelings, reactions and perceptions to the situation. B stands for boil down the problem. In this step the responder has the victim to briefly describe what occurred and if this situation had ever happened before. Most importantly in this step the crisis worker needs to find what the most pressing problem is. C stands for cope with the problem. This step involves establishing how the victim must prepare for the future and what the victim wants to happen. The crisis worker should explore resources and suggest realistic options to solve that most pressing issue. The last step D stands for determine the meaning of the event. This step is important because the responder must reassure the victim they are not alone in this suffering. The worker must assist in offering opportunities for restoration as well as hope. Also they are to help find meaning in the event so the victim can accept what happened and get better. I chose the psychological first aid model because it can be used for many crisis victims including responders and support service providers. This model contains eight essential