presented at Convening 19
Jessica P. Greenwald, Ph.D.
The Cambridge Hospital
1493 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts
The Community Crisis Response Team (CCRT) was created in 1988 with the burgeoning recognition that communities as well as individuals are the victims of violent crime. Grant funded by the Massachusetts Office of Victim Assistance, the Victims of Violence Program at the Cambridge Hospital nurtured the Team into its current form. The Team is comprised of 57 volunteers from over 40 multi-disciplinary agencies in the Boston Metro and a staff of four. Its mission is to provide short term, crisis intervention and consultation to community groups (formally or informally defined - e.g. work setting or group of friends of a victim) following a violent trauma.
Underpinning the CCRT''s Community Empowerment Model of community intervention, is a strong theoretical framework. The Ecological Framework details the key features of effective community intervention. This includes a fundamental respect for the community's integrity, inherent skills and self-healing abilities, and right to make choices for itself. Thus, the CCRT never approaches a traumatized community. The CCRT attempts to make itself known to communities and to build relationships within the community during non-crisis periods. At the time of crisis, the community must decide whether or not to seek services. From initial contact with a community representative, the CCRT attempts to utilize the community's own resources in developing a crisis response. When and if appropriate, the CCRT may provide actual traumatic stress debriefing services and follow-up. Our focus is to help groups process their reactions to the traumatic event, and find means to move forward in their lives.
Our Team is comprised of professionals from various domains: mental health professionals, school personnel, police, street workers, clergy, victim witness advocates, city commission directors, and court clinics. Volunteers make a one year commitment, beginning each January with a three day training conference designed to introduce team members to methods of crisis intervention, community trauma, working with diversity and the Community Empowerment Model. The Team meets monthly to provide ongoing training and to review current interventions in which the Team is involved. CCRT members often report that their ongoing training is tremendously helpful to them in their jobs. In addition, the monthly meetings provide a source of support for team members who all deal with trauma in their other work. Maintaining volunteer involvement relies on providing useful skills and information and support. In addition, it relies heavily on utilizing the individual talents of each of our members within their own disciplines, community bases and areas of expertise.