Introduction The Cass Identity Model, formally the Homosexual Identity Formation Model is a 6-stage process for “coming out.” It describes the stages that an individual may go through as they come to terms with their sexuality, both internally and externally. The six stages are as follows: Identity Confusion Identity Comparison Identity Tolerance Identity Acceptance Identity Pride…
Category: Counselling and Service Delivery
Threat Assessment in Education
Introduction With an increase in school shootings, such as the 1999 Columbine shootings and the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, it has become more important for educators, police and mental health professionals. This article reviews the literature on threat assessment in schools, primarily focusing on elementary and secondary schools. Safe Schools Initiative The Safe Schools Initiative “examined…
Basic Crisis Intervention Skills
Introduction The following is the last in a series of articles (posted once a week) where I began to fill in basic crisis intervention skills in order to make this website a more comprehensive and useful resource to beginning crisis workers as well as experienced ones. Basic strategies for crisis intervention have been identified by Myer and…
Cultural Competence in Social Work
Introduction Cultural competency is one of those words that may seem like a bit of a buzz word, but is actually very important to being an effective counsellor. The National Center for Cultural Competence cites the definition given in Cross et al. (1989), which is that “Cultural competence is a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes,…
Crisis Case Handling
Introduction to Crisis Case Handling Crisis case handling is considered quite a bit different from long-term counselling or therapy. While the steps might seem to be very similar e.g. (assessment, intervention, and evaluation) the short-term nature of crisis intervention and the goals are quite different. Crisis intervention aims to restore pre-crisis functioning while therapy’s goal…