If Pete and Repeat Called the Crisis Line and

Pete Hung Up, Who is Left?

Pamela S. Pauley

Scioto Paint Valley Menta1 Health Center

2565 Blain Highway, Waverly, Ohio 45690

740-663-4392

All crisis centers face the dilemma of repeat users, which is both good and bad news. For those clients who periodically struggle with issues and demonstrate their attempts to grow and change in response to their crises, usage of the crisis center is clearly indicated and is usually encouraged. We tell such clients to be sure to contact us again if the need arises. For chronic users of crisis services, however, we frequently find it difficult to be so tolerant. These are the people who seem to need no encouragement. These are the people who routinely contact the crisis center and who appear to be unwilling to make changes necessary to resolve their concerns. These are the people who cause crisis workers to roll them eyes arid moan in anticipation of hearing their story yet one more time.

This session will suggest ways of working more successfully with the chronic user of crisis services and will include strategies for helping the client identify needs for change and taking steps toward implementing that change. We will discuss ways of providing a supportive relationship without creating dependence. Finally, we will offer specific strategies and techniques to help the client assume responsibility for his/her own behavior and to move forward in life.

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