NIKKI BELLAMY: Welcome to the Crisis Counseling Assistance and Training Program,
also known as the CCP.
Whether you’re just starting out or are weeks into providing services,
this video is meant to help you understand the ins and outs
of group crisis counseling encounters and learn some tips and best practices
for facilitating or leading a group encounter.
My name is Nikki Bellamy, and I’m a Public Health Advisor with the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's
Disaster Technical Assistance Center, or SAMHSA DTAC.
For more than 10 years, I’ve assisted CCP grantees like you
with administering their grants and running their programs
in response to devastating impact of US hurricanes, wildfires,
tornadoes, and severe flooding to tsunami and typhoons
affecting our island territories in the Pacific Ocean.
Every disaster is different, and so is every community and every grant.
As part of the CCP provided by SAMHSA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency,
you are here to help people whose lives have been disrupted, who may have friends or family
who have died or been displaced, and whose homes
and property may have been damaged or destroyed.
While most people recover from a disaster,
some community members may be experiencing complicated
or traumatic grief, or they may still be in shock days, weeks,
and even months after a disaster strikes.
It may take time for a survivor to feel comfortable talking about
his or her recovery with another individual—and sharing about personal loss
in a group including strangers can be especially difficult.
That’s where you come in.
This video is meant to help you prepare to facilitate or lead an effective
group crisis counseling encounter with confidence.
I’ll share tips and best practices from experienced crisis counselors
and team leaders who have been in your position.
This training will complement the online and in-person trainings
you’ve already undergone—or are about to undergo—for your CCP grant.
Let’s talk about group crisis counseling.
It involves services that help group members achieve these goals.
Understand their current situation and reactions to the disaster.
Review or discuss their options.
Obtain emotional support or referrals.
Learn skills to cope with their current situations and reactions.
The CCP focuses on two types of groups: public education groups
and support, or self-help, groups.
Public education involves the distribution or delivery of educational information,
such as presentations, brochures, or training,
on CCP or crisis counseling-related topics.
In a public education session, the crisis counselor does most of the talking.
Group crisis counseling involves providing and facilitating support or education to a
group to help members cope with their situations and reactions.
In these settings, group participants do most of the talking
and are active and engaged with one another.
Group counseling may vary from less structured,
purely educational groups to more structured support groups.
All groups are likely to share some elements of support and education.
No matter what type of group you’re facilitating,
group crisis counseling encounters should provide participants
with emotional support, coping skills, and referrals to other services if needed.
Let’s say you have been asked to speak to 10 community members
at a local church after a tornado hit their small, rural town.
The group is quite chatty, exchanging stories and discussing the damage.
As a facilitator, do you jump right in and take over the discussion?
In a support group, it is actually acceptable to allow members
to begin the dialogue and create the dynamic.
As the facilitator you can encourage discussions to continue
by asking for additional details.
Inquire whether other survivors have had similar experiences.
Guide discussions toward positive topics of rebuilding and developing resilience.
Validate feelings of sadness, anger, or frustration, and ask group members
what strategies they have used to cope with these feelings.
Talk about how much the community or individuals
have already done or plan to do in the recovery process.
Discuss taking small steps that, when added together,
will mean big accomplishments.
You should meet the group where they are, so the format and content
of the group and materials presented should be tailored to their needs,
which can mean having materials in a language other than English.
In group crisis counseling sessions, you have an opportunity
to identify the various cultural groups or particularly vulnerable populations
in need of services and to check in with them to be sure that provided services,
resources, and even conversations are accessible, appropriate, and equitable.
In addition to recruiting staff from the disaster-impacted neighborhoods
and multi-lingual counseling staff, many CCP grantees report that crisis
counselors and team leads always travel with materials in multiple languages.
This includes Spanish or other native languages
specific to the impacted communities as well as English for self-help,
managing stress, and dealing with disasters.
If your team doesn’t do this already, talk to your team leaders
about whether you should start.
During a group crisis counseling session, you also have an opportunity
to involve cultural brokers, neighborhood liaisons
and community leaders in a meaningful way.
If appropriate, invite them to a meeting to share their beliefs on healing, trauma,
and loss, or ask for help co-facilitating a session for a specific population.
Whether you’re actively facilitating a session
or allowing the group to lead the discussion,
group members will look to you for guidance and expertise.
Counselors in other CCPs have shared the importance of encouraging
open-ended questions and showingempathy.
Asking how an individual was affected by the disaster,
or even simply how he or she is feeling overall,
can usually result in an engaging, ongoing interaction.
A few key points about leadership.
Excellent listening skills are a must!
Stimulate communication among group members,
rather than between individual members and you.
Pay attention to the verbal and nonverbal reactions of every group member,
and make changes to your approach if needed.
Be aware of the differing personalities of the group members,
while always searching for common themes.
Speak often, but briefly, to guide the conversation,
especially in time-limited groups.
Effective leadership demands the ability to make short,
simple, meaningful comments.
Remember that survivors who have recently experienced a disaster
or other traumatic event may be experiencing grief.
They may have difficulty imagining an end to the pain they are feeling, and these raw
emotions can affect others in the group, as well as the overall group dynamic.
In addition, group members may be frustrated with their
complex emotions and may want to vent
about the sense that they are not getting the help they need.
Experienced crisis counselors recommend remaining calm,
maintaining eye contact, keeping positive,
and repeating reaffirming messages that you are here to help.
During a group encounter, group members may inquire
about symptoms on which you may not be authorized to give advice,
but you can provide concrete information and make appropriate referrals
to mental health and substance use professionals and organizations.
If the discussion becomes negative, be prepared to guide group members
back toward more positive topics, such as maintaining a feeling of optimism
or offering to practice techniques with the group to manage stress
and anxiety such as deep breathing exercise or a meditation activity.
Promote the idea that people can and will get through difficult times successfully.
This belief can help people build their resilience
and recover from a disaster more quickly.
Remember that a group should be in a safe place in which people, families,
and communities can freely share their feelings without worrying
about other people knowing their personal business.
The concept of confidentiality should be brought up early
and repeated often so group members are at ease.
When facilitating the group, make sure that each member
has a chance to talk and that no one person is dominating the conversation.
At the same time, respect a group member’s desire
to listen quietly if he or she doesn't want to talk.
Having a writing implement and paper material for each member
of the group will allow those who are uncomfortable
with talking, to express him or herself.
Open up by sharing a time when you witnessed the capacity
to recover from an incident or encourage the group to share their success stories.
Some groups may warrant more structure than others;
however, it can be empowering for group members to become actively engaged
in the process of deciding what they would like to achieve in group sessions.
In this video, we’ve covered some important points
that build on other CCP trainings.
You can revisit these ideas online or discuss them with your team members.
As you work with survivors following a disaster,
keep in mind that you are there to help people recover.
It may not be easy, and it may take time, but it will have a positive impact.
Visit this website to find additional agencies and tools
such as helplines, treatment locators, and many resources available
at the state and federal level.
Thank you for watching this training video,
and thank you for the important work you do.