Your final project is to interview an individual working in a crisis intervention capacity within an agency or program which interests you professionally. The individual should have experience working directly with clients.
Some examples of acceptable positions/titles are:
Mental Health Specialist or Counselor, Social Worker, Behavior Intervention Specialist, Crisis Intervention Specialist
Some examples of non-acceptable positions/titles are:
Police Officer, Intake Co-Ordinator
Purpose/Expectation: The purpose of the interview is to gain information from a provider of crisis intervention profession. You will write a paper based on the interview that responds to all the questions below. The paper must be a minimum of 4 pages, not more than 5, and must be written in an APA 7th-edition format.
Your paper is expected to cover and consist of all the following:
1- Name of Agency/Program
a. Background information (example: mission, years active, etc.)
2- Type of Crisis Service Offered
a. Population served
3- Your interest in this type of service
4- Who did you interview? (NAMES ARE NOT ALLOWED) Include all of the following:
a. title of the person
b. how long has the person been working in crisis intervention services
c. length of time at current agency/program
d. their level of education/ level of education required for the position if it differs from theirs
e. type(s) of training completed related to current work in crisis intervention
5- Discuss what the individual likes and dislikes about their work. Think in terms of policies, current trends within crisis intervention, legal issues, ethical issues, etc.
6- What are the primary technique(s)/model(s) of assessment and crisis intervention used in their job to engage with individuals experiencing crisis.
7- What does the interviewee see as most challenging aspect of their work (assessment, intervention, outcome, resource allocation, etc.)
8- Summarize your thoughts on the interview. Include in your summary a discussion of either burnout, vicarious trauma, or compassion fatigue and how it might affect a professional working in this area of crisis intervention. Based on the interview, do you see Crisis Intervention as an area of human service that you might be interest in pursuing, still be interested in pursuing or no longer be interested in pursuing. If yes, why? If no, why not?
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
• The following are not allowed as possibilities for your interview:
o Children services
o HIV/AIDS services
o Substance/Alcohol Use services
o When requesting interviews with agencies, students must work directly with an agency representative. Students cannot contact crisis hotlines or visit crisis programs (ie- DV shelters).
For example – If you are interested in finding out more about the National Suicide Hotline (988), you can call the agency. You are not permitted to call 988 directly for an interview.
If you are interested in finding out more about domestic violence crisis intervention services, you can call an agency to request an interview with a crisis worker (ie – My Sister’s Place, Fearless, Inc) that provides those services.
You are not permitted to call their hotline numbers.
o Students cannot interview survivors of crisis situations. The only interviews that will be allowed are with professional providers of Crisis Intervention Services
o For Confidentiality and Safety purposes – names and locations of all services must be excluded from your papers.
For example – You can write about DV agencies, you are not permitted to include the location of their shelters or the name/location of the person you will be interviewing.
Violations of any of these instructions or failure to submit your intended interview for approval will result in an automatic grade of zero on your project.