MEDICAL CRISIS COUNSELING - A NEW SERVICE DELIVERY MODEL

The diagnosis or exacerbation of a chronic illness, the aftermath of a serious accident, or worries about future in the context of illness o r debilitating injury are all examples of medical crises that pose sig nificant coping challenges. Too often, traditional approaches to psych otherapy have been unable to respond the most urgent needs of people c onfronting such crises. Medical crisis counseling is a specialized app roach to addressing the needs of individuals and families confronted b y the difficulties of coping with losses or changes, as well as the ch allenge of living with long-term illness. This paper describes the med ical crisis counseling model in contrast with other more traditional i ntervention approaches.