Discussion 3 - Environmental and Traumatic Social Problems

Discussion 3: Environmental and Traumatic Social Problems and Helping

For this discussion, you will learn more about the helping process, and the helper’s role in crisis intervention. You may want to refer back to Chapter 7’s section regarding  Crisis Intervention and Chapter 8’s section regarding  International Focus.

You will read about and discuss helping in the aftermath of a natural disaster or a mass trauma. Natural disasters may include hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, and forest fires. Mass traumas may include terrorist attacks, school shootings, or wars. Both types of events take place in the environment but require professional, individual, and community responses.

The helping relationship in such situations is qualitatively different than in conventional counseling situations because client needs are different. Traditional counseling typically takes place in a clinic or counselor’s office and focuses on the diagnosis and a treatment plan, using psychotherapeutic techniques to improve the individual’s ability to function and adapt. In contrast, disaster mental health responses take place in the community or client’s home, focus on solving immediate problems of survival, confirm the client’s emotional response, and make use of psychoeducational techniques to improve individual and community functioning.

Initial Post

If your last name starts with the letters M - Z you will read and discuss:  Supporting Children After a Disaster: A Case Study of a Psychosocial School-Based Intervention.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10615-015-0557-y

Powell, T., & Holleran-Steiker, L. K. (2017). Supporting children after a disaster: A case study of a psychosocial school-based intervention. Clinical Social Work Journal. 45(2) doi: 10.1007/s10615-015-0557-y.

1. Begin your discussion with a brief overview of the disaster or trauma described in your assigned article.

2. Analyze the professional response to either a natural disaster or a mass trauma by naming and discussing the techniques or programs used by professionals to give help in the situation described in your assigned article.

a) Where and how was the program implemented?

1. Per Maslow, refer back to Chapter 8's Hierarchical Needs section in the Woodside and McClam text, can address client problems in the case you analyzed.

a) How were the most critical needs met?

b) Looking at the assigned case from a strengths perspective, how did the program or technique focus on strengths?

c) Could more of a strengths perspective have been used to help the individuals and community?