Ruth Rales Jewish Family Service of South Palm Beach County
21300 Ruth & Baron Coleman Boulevard
Boca Raton, FL 33428
(561) 852-3333
(561) 852-3332

Psychological Guidelines For Coping with Crisis Events

1. Provide the individuals with a safe, secure, and familiar environment as quickly as possible.
2. Acknowledge that some unusual and/or crisis event has taken place and that most individuals would experience feelings of anxiety, worry, sadness, anger, confusion and most significantly fear as a result of such an event.
3. Acknowledge that such feelings are normal. It is the event that is unusual and chaotic, and that their feelings and thoughts are acceptable and understandable.
4. Encourage affected individuals to express their feelings, thoughts and dreams openly and assure them that none of these experiences are foolish or silly. Open expression is important. If a person wishes to remain quiet or silent, provide the opportunity for them to talk by indicating a willingness to listen when they are ready to speak.
5. Adults can model the ability to openly admit to and discuss their own reactions while recognizing that such events do eventually return to a more stable and secure state.
6. Directly connect the person's feelings and reactions to the actual external crisis event. This allows the person to establish some understanding of their reactions and to connect the event with the feelings of chaos and confusion.
7. Reassure the affected persons that they are secure and safe. Remind them of the love and support systems in their life and assist them in returning their world to some degree of predictability. Minimal time should be directed towards analyzing or explaining why such events happened.
8. While noting the reality of the crisis event, emotionally vulnerable persons should limit the time they revisit or repeat the events by repeatedly seeing it on TV or hearing it on the radio.