Crisis intervention covers many different tragedies
It may have been just a coincidence, but at the same time domestic violence was being discussed at the Radisson, a training session at the same hotel was dealing with how to better respond to a wide variety of tragedies.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
The work that these men and women do is not easy. They are routinely confronted with crises like murders, suicides, fires, and road traffic accidents. How they handle tragedy can significantly affect the lives of the surviving victims and their families.
Frank R. Campbell, Executive Dir., Crisis Centre Foundation, Louisiana
?Certainly the folks that we have here are responding to crisis everyday. I think sometimes we think a crisis only occurs if there is an ambulance or there is a fire or there is a major disaster, but a crisis is self-defined. So that person who comes home and finds out that they no longer have a job is also in a crisis or that a family member has become ill or been identified a having HIV and AIDS status. These are also crises that happen everyday and in every country of the world.?
Frank Campbell and his team of volunteers at the Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention Centre in Louisiana have been dealing with crises across the globe for the past thirty-five years. Today the group is in Belize to share their experience and give assistance to care providers. The session is a coordinated effort by the National Committee for Families and Children and the National AIDS Commission.
Starla Acosta, Programme Coordinator, N.C.FC.
?This is the second consecutive year that they have come to Belize as part of a course and they have been doing work with social work and mental health and they are doing a lot of work with Pallotti High School. They had a wonderful experience last year, and so this conference is being held as a way for them to give back to the Belizean community for hosting them and for giving them a lot of information that they gathered.?
The participants include nurses, teachers, police social workers, and the army?s chaplains. One of the most important lessons they have been given is that at the same time they learn to take care of others they must also look after themselves.
Frank Campbell
?The feedback that we are getting from the participants is very helpful because they are working with many at risks populations. And not only do they learn how to take care of those folks who they are here to help, but they learn how to take care of themselves in doing that work. Caregivers are especially vulnerable not to take care of themselves and then they as a resource no longer exist. So we are talking to them about ways to use crisis theory and self-care, so they can be a better resource to people who are in trouble.?
The participants will be expected to devise their own plans of action to better take care of themselves and others using the guidelines given during the session. Jacqueline Woods for News Five.
A total of seventy people attended the crisis intervention conference.
