The Complete Guide to Crisis & Trauma Counseling: What to do and Say When It Matters Most was written by Dr. H. Norman Wright. He was one of the most respected Christian therapists of his time. Wright is a licensed family, marriage, and child therapist who practiced for over 40years. Currently, he is a Christian Education research professor in the Talbot school of theology. He is both a counselor and an educator who focuses on grief and trauma counseling and the debriefing of the critical incidences. Wright offers training and curriculum in crisis, loss, and injury to health professionals, hospitals, social work entities, and community-based seminars on grief recovery. He was one of the counselors who engaged in providing aftermath counseling to the victims of incidences such as the 9/11, mass shootings, and Hurricane Katrina.
In his book The Complete Guide to Crisis & Trauma Counseling: What to Do and Say When It Matters Most, Wright shares real-life dialogs from the decades he was in the private practice as a way of demonstrating excellent and healing counseling sessions. The book focuses on giving a guide on counseling and coaching both believers and non-believers in crisis. Through his writing, Wright offers directions on how to walk alongside people in crisis during the entire period that follows after their trauma, and eventually assist them in finding a path to complete restoration.
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Key Points
Jesus is the Role Model
Generally, the book emphasizes that Christian counselors should use Christ as their role model when helping people in crisis with their agonizing situations in life. They should emulate the behavior and ways of Christ to react to different situations that need interventions. This implies that, like Christ, counselors need to be compassionate. Primarily, the role of counseling is to alleviate people from their suffering. Jesus was sympathetic to the crowd listening to him, providing food, and even healing the sick. Besides, it is important to accept people. Acceptance is the key to helping others. It helps one to avoid being judgmental and instead be willing to help other people irrespective of their problem (Wright, 2011). Like Christ, counselors come across people with different crises, with some being severe than others. Regardless of the victims’ challenge, it is the role of a counselor to ensure that they promote self–worth. Sometimes, people need to be encouraged more than they should be condemned. During his mission, Jesus always put people and their needs before anything else, including laws. He cared for humans, and that is why he was willing to heal the woman in the synagogue despite being on a Sabbath and against the law.
Counselors are the source of hope for crisis victims. Therefore, it is essential to encourage them and assure them that everything would be okay. Consequently, they should encourage people to accept the situation and help them adapt to the new norm in their lives. Besides, it is essential to emphasize the right behavior and always give them a chance to choose what they need. According to Wright (2011), it is impossible to heal from a traumatizing experience unless they are willing. Like Christ made, the lame meant the well to choose to either be healed or continue staying on the well, and it is important to make the person in a crisis decide whether they are willing to and ready to accept and promote healing. People always have the key to their healing. Therefore, it is upon the person to choose to remain the same or change and experience growth in their lives. Emphasizing the right behavior helps change the situation, especially in cases where the crisis is a result of the victim's acts. For instance, if one lost a job due to his careless drinking behavior, it is the counselor's responsibility to remind him/her on the importance of being sober and behaving appropriately if he/she needs to get a job.
A counseling intervention is expected to help those in need to accept and take the responsibility of changing their lives. In this case, encouraging them and allowing them to know that as a counselor, one believes in them is an essential step in healing. Like in the Bible, everyone needs someone to run to for strength and encouragement when they feel weary. Jesus was the source of power for all that had burdens in life. With Christ as the role model, Christian counselors should have the heart of taking away the trouble that makes the lives of their patient’s difficulty and help them reshape and get into the right state.
Why Jesus was Successful in Alleviating needs of others
There are several traits that counselors can learn from Christ to ensure that they succeed in their carrier. First is that they need to be obedient to God. Jesus always conducted his actions following the will of God. When one obeys God's will, nothing can go wrong. Therefore, counselors should depend on God’s wisdom instead of their understanding. Another character is being faithful. As a practitioner, it is crucial to do the right things and remain transparent. Openness during counseling helps people to understand one another (Wright, 2011). Truthfulness helps the patient to make the right decision and see things as they are as opposed to being lied to. Being a prayer warrior is an essential character trait for any Christian leader. It is vital to seek God’s guidance and help when stack. God can change any situation in life. Holding prayer sessions with counselees to pray for and with them can be a key to enhancing their belief and faith in everything being okay. Prayers help in giving strengths during hard times in life. Often, people tend to have confidence in counselors who show their love for God to help in solving their situations.
In counseling, listening is critical to understand the patients. Therefore, counselors should be able to listen to their patients, understand their problems, and know the best way to intervene. It is crucial to avoid being judgmental and instead have an open-minded approach. It is essential to understand the appropriate time to talk, what to say, and the best strategy to use and ensure that the counselee does not feel offended. It is also important to ask for clarification and more information to avoid responding inappropriately. Always asking questions is an excellent way to get to understand people by considering their feeling. As a way of promoting positivity and hope in patients, counselors may choose to reassure them by making them understand that the problem that they are facing are common and are faced by others.
Besides, they need to know that they will overcome the challenge and that they are not to be blamed for anything that they are going through. Reassurance is crucial in developing trust between the professionals and their patients. Nevertheless, one must understand various factors that influence the way that a counselee acts and relates to the professional. While listening, it is essential to consider factors like age, sex, education, experience, perception, and expectations, as well as the personal feelings of the patient. They determine the response given.
Factors that Hinder Counseling Effectiveness
As a counselor, particular traits need to be avoided for one to be successful. This includes being judgmental of their patients and the troubles they are going through. Judging counseling often discourages them from opening up, thus leading to inner suffering and trauma. Besides, counselors should ensure that they give their clients enough time to participate without total domination. Domination of a counselor is likely to translate to the session being focused on issues as opposed to their patients (Wright, 2011). Although questioning is an excellent way to promote understanding and interaction between the professional and their counseling clients, it should not be structured as an interrogation.
Besides, since the counseling dals with loss and grief, it is the counselor's responsibility to learn and understand all forms of the injuries that people might face. This is because each loss has a particular way of dealing with it. Additionally, people tend to respond differently to different losses in life.
Conclusion
From a biblical point of view, grief is described as a God'-given therapeutic response to loss. In the Bible, there were various cases of grief, like the death of Lazarus, which left Mary and Martha devastated. The book emphasizes empathy is an essential trait that helps counselors associate and connects with their counselees effectively. Empathy and care help professionals to relate to the situation hence developing an appropriate response to the problem. The understanding of Christ on the challenges that people went through, including pain during sickness, loss of family members, and even hunger led him to provide the right solution at the right time. Jesus is a solid example and model for counselors who need to be successful in alleviating their client’s needs.
Reference
Wright, H. N. (2011). The Complete Guide to Crisis & Trauma Counseling: What to Do and Say when it Matters Most! . Gospel Light Publications.
