Introduction There are a variety of situations where a client or helpline caller may experience negative emotions and need to use coping strategies to help themselves cope. These can include flashbacks to abuse or trauma (such as in child sexual abuse or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), dissociation, or simply intrusive thoughts or memories of a…
Category: Counselling and Service Delivery
Using the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG)
Introduction The Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG; Quinsey, Harris, Rice, & Cormier, 2006) is a tool that can be used to estimate statistically the risk of recidivism. It is comprised of 12 items that are associated with a risk of re-offending and is completed with all available information. You can download the full VRAG in…
Level of Care Utilization System (LOCUS)
Introduction The Level of Care Utilization System or LOCUS tool has been designed by the American Association of Community Psychiatrists (2009) to allow staff who work on inpatient hospital environments with patients with psychiatric problems (such as emergency departments, psychiatric sections of general hospitals or in psychiatric hospitals) to determine the level of care that…
Language Learning for Social Service Workers
Introduction An important part of cultural competency for social workers is the ability to speak a language understood by their clients. In the US and Canada there are significant populations of Spanish, French, and South Asian language speakers, and their ability to access social work support may be impaired by the lack of speakers of…
Preventing Burnout on Crisis Lines
Introduction Burnout is defined as a state of ineffectiveness comprising “emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment.” (Maslach, 1982) It is a pervasive and frustrating state, accounting for a large portion of the turnover experienced in mental health services, including volunteer and paraprofessional organizations like crisis lines. There are a number of models of burnout,…