Collaborative Crisis Intervention at a Domestic Violence Shelter

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Community Partners
Services
Ethical Issues
Conclusion
Reference List

Introduction

Domestic violence cases often touches on private and confidential of the family and the professional service provider because they are sensitive and very personal. However, because of the need for collaboration, sometimes it is totally difficult to avoid sharing clients’ information among the professionals offering these services (for example, lawyers, social workers, psychiatrists, and other workers from government departments).

Sometimes, important services can be provided without a breach of confidentiality but in most cases it is very difficult to maintain utmost confidentiality of sensitive information.

Community Partners

Collaborative partners for the crisis intervention will include the state domestic violence shelter and victim management programs in the community. Once the women or the children have been referred to the programs, they are enrolled and taken through a number of interrogative sessions with criminal investigation services and the emotional assessment social workers (Lauer & Brownstein, 2008, p. 26). There will be typically about five meetings taking about one to one and half hours each though the time is not strict.

The first visit is meant to collect the information that the professional in domestic violence deem crucial concerning the precipitating incidence and history of violence. The caregivers are educated on trauma and management measures (Lauer & Brownstein, 2008, p. 26). Several forms are filled to legal documentation.

The second visit is intended to build trust and confidence between the counselor and the victims. Ice-breaking techniques are used and signs of trauma analyzed critically to determine whether care should begin. The third visit is for continued assessment and intervention. For the children playing session are introduced so as to help reduce stress. The fourth visit is when the assessment is concluded and the counselor makes recommendations regarding the need for support services as determined by the social workers.

Intervention like counseling, play and discussion continues (Lauer & Brownstein, 2008, p. 26). The final visit is set for transition where individuals referred for the trauma support are enrolled in the program. Those not referred are counseled and released. The ongoing service provider also attends this session so that the transition can be smooth.

The collaborative partners in the ongoing trauma session are children support programs, family solutions programs, and domestic violence community centers. Children and parents are trained on the support skills about twice every week.

The session last for about six months and during this time cognitive behavior therapy is applied and the participants are educated on domestic violence causes and consequences as well (Lauer & Brownstein, 2008, p. 29). Other important collaborative partners include Community law centers, children’s hospitals and shelter against violence.

Services

The purpose of domestic violence shelters is to safeguard victims of violence from further abuse and is in most cases located in discrete location.

The parents who are abused and their children are given temporary housing, healthcare and food as their problems is being solved legally and medically (Lauer & Brownstein, 2008, p. 29). There are counseling services and support to the victims for other needs.

Common services offers include individual counseling sessions, support teams, legal assistance, family violence therapy and vocational training.

There is however a challenge of providing emergency psychological problems because experts are inadequate and the general service providers sometimes fill the gaps by providing psychological services to those in serious need (Plichta et al, 2006, p. 287).

B. Unluckily, these practitioners are not adequately trained for the job and cannot competently manage the situation especially incidences like self harm or suicidal attempt. Psychiatric assessment takes long and its very complex compared to general health practice. The general practitioners may not know the required resources and those available to the clients hence causing frustration need (Plichta et al, 2006, p. 296).

Ethical Issues

Confidentiality is both a moral and a legal concern when addressing domestic violence. When attending their clients, the social workers or counselor are required not to disclose private information to another party concerning their clients. The law binds therapists in the professions code of conduct that sharing information is unethical and illegal when the client is not aware.

In the case of domestic violence, therapists come to contact with personal information from their clients through interrogation and physical examination. Counseling recognizes two types of confidentiality models – content and contact (APA, 2002, para. 2).

Content confidentiality demands that anything that the clients say in the interrogative meetings with the therapist remain confidential and should not be revealed to unauthorized person. Disclosing such information is breach of content confidentiality and is punishable by law and practitioners can lose their license of practice or be suspended (ACA, 2005, para. 2).

Contact confidentiality demands that the practitioner does not reveal to anyone that the clients is being attended to by a medical professional, a Counselor. The APA and American Counseling Association (ACA) have drafted rules that guide practice of this profession – counseling and psychological services so that the rights of the clients are preserved considering privacy is a fundamental right.

Conclusion

Collaboration in crisis management can bring a lot of beneficial resources and professional services to clients. Because of matters that affect the clients like their autonomy, privacy, confidentiality and legal rights, the collaboration can evoke emotions if these aspects are not handled carefully.

For this reason, there are some guidelines that help to direct sharing of in information in collaborative intervention, and providing standards, laws and consequences. The American psychological association provides such guidelines to the cases that are classified under psychology.

Reference List

American Counseling Association. (2005). ACA code of ethics. Web.

American Psychological Association. (2002). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. Web.

Lauer, M., & Brownstein, R. (2008). “Replacing The Revolving Door: A Collaborative Approach To Treating Individuals In Crisis,” Journal Of Psychosocial Nursing & Mental Health Services, 46(6), 25–32.

Plichta, S. B., Vandecar-Burdin, T., Odor, R. K., Reams, S., & Zhang, Y. (2006). “The Emergency Department And Victims Of Sexual Violence: An Assessment of Preparedness to Help,” Journal of Health & Human Services Administration, 29(3), 285–308.

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