Crisis Response & Trauma Care 101

Course Lessons

• • CRFR 101:Trauma and Crisis Care: Why we serve the very nature of trauma is that it is difficult to see and speak about. This course will discuss the foundation of crisis work and the costs involved.

• • CRFR 102: Crisis Response: An Overview of Emergency Mental Health and Chaplaincy - The very nature of trauma is that it is difficult to see and speak about. This course will discuss the foundation of crisis work and the costs involved.

• • CRFR 103: The Ethics and Protocol of Crisis Care - Approximately fifty-percent of the professionals who responded to Hurricane Katrina returned reporting psychological symptoms similar to the victims they encountered. The provision of care to crisis victims requires a significant variation to generally accepted standards in the community of mental health providers, laity, and clergy. This lesson provides an overview of adjustments that must be made when a disaster occurs.

• • CRFR 104: Collateral Damage: Firestorms of Faith - A life crisis varies in intensity and character and can range from being disruptive to devastating. Family, friends, and the local church often saturate the suffering saint with practical help and spiritual encouragement but may miss the internal firestorm of faith. Dr. Nichols offers practical strategies on how to care for those who are overwhelmed with a tragic life crisis and struggling with disillusionment and doubt about God.

• • CRFR 105: Crisis Theory and Assessment - This lesson will discuss the roots of crisis response, the controversy that has arisen around it, and why it works. We will also emphasize the importance of assessment and identify some red flag symptoms to watch out for throughout the assessment process.

• • CRFR 106: A Theology of Suffering and the “Crisis of Faith” - This lesson is designed to help you better understand the biblical nature of suffering and how it can lead to a crisis of faith.

• • CRFR 107: Stability after Crisis: The First Seven Days - This lesson will discuss an often overlooked part of crisis response, the everyday crisis that occurs behind closed doors within our own families, churches, and neighborhoods. A crisis can go on for a very long time but this course will focus specifically on the first seven days after a crisis.

• • CRFR 108: Getting Plugged In: The Logistics of Responding to Crisis and Disaster - This lesson will outline how to actually be deployed for crisis response once an individual is trained and ready to join a team.

• • CRFR 109: Death Notification and Family Assistance - This lesson explores several aspects that are essential in making a compassionate death notification. Crisis communication techniques and “Best Practices” are discussed as well as what is helpful and not helpful to say to loved ones when bearing the bad news.

• • CRFR 110: Suicide: Coping with the Aftermath - This lesson is designed to equip responders with what the Bible has to say about suicide and how to be a source of encouragement and hope as an ambassador of Christ to those who face the nagging questions and turmoil related to suicide.

• • CRFR 111: Children and Crisis - This lesson is an overview of the unique reactions of children who have survived a significant crisis. These events will be defined for the purposes of the lesson as critical incidents. The lesson will, in general terms, address common themes of reaction in terms of three age groups; Pre-school (ages 1-5), Childhood (ages 6-10), and Pre-adolescence and Adolescence (ages 12-18).

• • CRFR 112: Ambassadors of Faith and the Ministry of Presence - A ministry of presence is something that any Christian can provide to those suffering and in crisis. All a person must do is be present as a representative of God. Though the task is uncomplicated, it is not necessarily easy. There are many instructions that a caregiver must follow in order to best serve others.