AY Honors/Crisis Intervention/Answer Key
This honor, or portions of it, is an option for GUIDES and FRONTIER GUIDES Serving Others requirements.
This is the North American version. There is also a General Conference version called Conflict Resolution.
1. Be at least in the 10th grade.
Pathfinders should be mature enough for this topic. The honor also includes Guide requirements, designed for Grade 10 students.
2. Explain how Christ encouraged people in crisis in at least two of the following Bible stories. Identify the nature of the crisis or human needs in each story that you explain.
a. John 8:1-11 (Mary Magdalene)
But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
The woman was facing death, accused of a capital offence. She was being used by the Jews to trap Jesus. While Jesus used wisdom to get out of the trap set for him, Jesus also showed compassion for the accused woman. She knew what she had or had not done, and Jesus choose to forgive her sins. Jesus got creative and deflected the attention of the Jews from accusing the woman and trying to trap Him toward their own problems.
You are unlikely to know the sins of people in a conflict, but can you use creative problem solving to help those in a crisis?
b. Luke 15:11-32
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
c. Luke 8:40-56
d. Matthew 8:1-22
3. Describe for your instructor some of the human needs and crisis situations that teenagers in your community face today. Describe some of the crisis situations that families face. This may be done in a group discussion setting.
Teenagers are humans (contrary to some rumours) and therefore are subject to the same human needs as shown on the pyramid. However, as people in transition to an adult world, teenagers face additional decisions and challenges. With less experience in handling crisis situations than older people, teenagers may need to learn tools and skills to cope with life. Families are also comprised of humans who must function in relationships with each other. Families with teenagers are in for an interesting time as their teenagers grow up, leave home, study, find love and enter the workforce.
Once they get into a discussion, Teenagers will, however, focus on the human needs that are most pressing for them.
Discussion topics may include:
- Divorce and family recombinations that place stress on family members
- Decisions about school and career
- Job loss and economic crisis in the family
- Dating and romance
- Self esteem challenges
- Suicide thoughts
- Peer pressure to try illegal, unhealthy or immoral things
- Family violence and other types of abuse
- Loss of a family member or loved one
- etc
4. Discuss your own motives for wanting to help your friends when they face personal or family crisis. What about strangers? This may be done in a group discussion setting.
The point of this requirement is for the individual to examine his own reasons for wanting to help someone. Unfortunately, there are many more bad reasons to want to get involved than there are good reasons. The only valid reason to get involved is out of love. Invalid reasons include curiosity, the desire to gossip, the desire to feel better about oneself for helping, or out of a sense of wanting to control the other person's life. Sometimes people think that their friends cannot get themselves out of their mess without their help. There are almost certainly more invalid reasons for getting involved than those listed here. But that doesn't mean you should not get involved. Just be sure you are doing so for the right reason!
5. Describe the types of human needs and give a real-life example of each.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is often depicted as a pyramid consisting of five levels: the four lower levels are grouped together as being associated with Physiological needs, while the top level is termed growth needs associated with psychological needs. Deficiency needs must be met first. Once these are met, seeking to satisfy growth needs drives personal growth. The higher needs in this hierarchy only come into focus when the lower needs in the pyramid are satisfied. Once an individual has moved upwards to the next level, needs in the lower level will no longer be prioritized. If a lower set of needs is no longer being met, the individual will temporarily re-prioritize those needs by focusing attention on the unfulfilled needs, but will not permanently regress to the lower level. For instance, a businessman at the esteem level who is diagnosed with cancer will spend a great deal of time concentrating on his health (physiological needs), but will continue to value his work performance (esteem needs) and will likely return to work during periods of remission.
6. Explain the steps in crisis intervention process and apply each step to a case study supplied by your instructor.
7. Demonstrate a grasp of basic listening skills by conducting an interview of at least 30 minutes duration. This interview must either be observed by an observer who can recognize listening skills, or taped for review by your instructor. The interview does not have to be with a person who is in crisis, but it must be a real conversation not pretend or role-playing.
Many other honors require interviewing someone, including other ACS Honors, other outreach honors, and some of the Vocational series. We suggest doing an interview to earn another honor while earning this honor too rather than some random interview.
Every student should learn how to listen in school but if someone is taking the time to come and talk with you or your club on a volunteer basis it is time to step up your listening game.
Basic listening skills include:
- Not talking while others are talking
- Taking notes where applicable
- Asking followup questions on key points
- Not figiting or playing with pens, hair etc
- Using appropriate regular eye contact
- Respecting the person's time and schedule
- Thanking the person for their time.
8. Explain how to make a referral to a professional counselor or pastor.
When your friend is facing a crisis that is too big for you to handle, you need to refer him to someone with professional training. Doing this is not abandoning your friend, but rather, recognizing that his problems are beyond your ability to help. There are four steps in making a referral:
- Prepare your friend
- Before you can prepare your friend, you are going to need a lot of information about the services professional offers and have a concrete understanding of how it can help. Then you need to share that information with your friend. Assure your friend that seeking professional help is not a sign of weakness. Rather, it is often the most effective and least painful path to recovery.
- Get your friend's participation
- The decision to see a professional belongs to your friend, not to you. Do not pressure your friend into making this decision. It may take some getting used to, and the decision might take a long time to make.
- Prepare the professional
- Once your friend has decided to see the professional, you should call and talk to them. Do not make the appointment for your friend. Ideally your friend should to that for himself, but if the situation is especially urgent, you might make the appointment for your friend yourself. When you speak to the professional, tell them as much as you are comfortable about the situation, and why you think the referral is important. The more the counselor knows about the problem, the better able he will be to help. Make sure that the things you have told your friend about the professional hold true, and ask if they think they can really help.
- Follow up
- After your friend's first appointment, ask how it went. You do not need to pry into the details of the session, but you should certainly ask if there is anything you can do to help your friend. Your continued support can help ensure a positive outcome.
References
- How to Help a Friend (second edition) by Paul Welter, Tyndale House, Wheaton, Illinois (1991)
- Christ-Centered Caring by Ronaele Whittington, AdventSource, Lincoln, Nebraska (1990)
