Abc Model Of Crisis Intervention

Alcoholism, also known as Alcohol Use Disorder, is a common disorder that affects an individual’s health, well-being, and family all almost concurrent. Alcoholism is defined as consuming alcohol to the point where an individual’s life, be it at the social, occupational, or even medical level is affected. (emedicine article). The excessive consumption of alcohol has led to approximately 88,000 deaths and a total of 2.5 million years of potential life lost in the United States from 2006-2010—the average life expectancy of an individual that partook in excessive alcohol consumption is on average about 30 years less than an individual who does not excessively drink (CDC article). What exactly is considered to be “excessive” drinking? In the
This can be done by looking at and identifying what the precipitating event is, any emotional distress, or even any impairments into daily overall functioning such as behavior changes, social changes, or even occupational or academic changes. The next part of this second step to the ABC model is to make sure ethical checks are being made on the client. As with any crisis, those going through alcoholism should go through a suicide assessment to make sure they won’t act on depressive or impulsive behaviors. The next assessment the crisis worker would want to look at is a substance abuse assessment to learn more about why the person suffers from alcoholism. This can be done by asking simple open-ended questions like “How much alcohol do you drink in a weeks’ time?” Another question the worker could ask a client going through alcoholism is whether or not they drink on a daily basis. The final part of this step in the ABC model of crisis intervention is for the worker to go through a therapeutic interaction with the client. In this part of the second step, things like validation statements could be used to let the client know that what they are going through is normal and there is hope that things will get better—letting the client know that others have experienced alcoholism and survived and so can they.
One thing a client suffering from alcoholism can do is go through a support group like Alcoholics Anonymous and be surrounded by those going through the same thing in life. Another option that could work with an AA group or even as a next step would be a twelve step program where the costs are minimal to the client health insurance wise, but the benefits are often seen. Should there be an underlying issue to why the client is going through alcoholism, such as a death of a relative or loss of a job, providing long term therapy to the client can also be beneficial for them to overcome their struggle. Another thing for a crisis worker to keep in mind when working with a client that is going through alcoholism is to look at the family impact it has created both on marriage, children and relatives and provide the appropriate therapy to correct and work through those problems of the past. Some other things that could come up with a client dealing with alcoholism and how to cope would be getting them through anything medical or legal by referring them to agencies to help them with those problems, but also keeping an eye on any need for behavioral activities to help them organize their lives after a crisis. Even once every step has been taken in the ABC model, it is important for the