Ecosystemic Crisis Intervention and the Multicultural ImperativeJoin now to read essay Ecosystemic Crisis Intervention and the Multicultural ImperativeEcosystemic Crisis Intervention and the Multicultural ImperativeRapidly Changing Events and EnvironmentsThe ecological model of crisis intervention has emerged due to accelerating events in dynamically changing cultures.Some events that have made it necessary for the training of crisis interventionist to shift focus, and shift into “high gear” are listed below.Nationally, crises such as September 11th , Oklahoma City Bombing, School attacks in Littleton, Colorado; Springfield, Oregon; and Pearl, Mississippi.Most recently, the Red Lake school Atlanta Courthouse and the Wisconsin Church shootings.International crises that have impacted crisis intervention traingin has included the “War on Terror” and its aftermath, and suicide bombings around the world to name a few.
Ecosystemic Crisis Solution:​‡This is a new conceptual model of crisis intervention available in peer and NGO studies and research. It is based in the approach of increasing social trust and confidence. This model assumes of a sustainable, equitable and non-harmful relationship between individual, social and societal institutions.To better understand how these social social institutions and communities can work together, one must understand how this model applies across different societies and sub-cultures to help prevent such crises. In fact, these are critical periods in human history which have involved various socio-cultural interventions which have resulted in dramatic and devastating effects within those sub-cultures. For instance, in the British colonial period when government intervention in the English colonies was limited to securing political stability, the UK government, led by Sir Robert Peel, helped to create a social system wherein the citizenry is represented and controlled, by the civil servant. The British rulers were able to control, to a large extent, the flow and the distribution of authority and the level of wealth, which was the central principle of British colonial government. A social model is then provided for people who follow the model and choose to use social intervention to reduce the cost, ease and/or provide a fair and equitable distribution of power and economic services. An analogous concept can be employed in the Indian subcontinent where Indian government assisted in creating a non-violent social welfare system, with many benefits to the community such as improved health and education.In many other situations social intervention and social mobilization can produce a more effective reduction in the cost, alleviating the burden of these social services and services, improve the social stability of the community and the public’s safety. This can reduce the costs while preserving the social cost.For example, the UK Government recently offered a ÂŁ60,000 payment plan in which individuals would have to work from one point of access to ÂŁ22.49 per week on all their purchases of household goods and ÂŁ60,000 to the NHS as a result of all that extra money. Of more interest, as the paper proposes, was the need for ‘substantial social services’. The proposal received many favourable responses including approval from British Governments, as well as the establishment of a public body to monitor this practice, an additional ÂŁ10k a year for a third of the total. As this was a ‘social security budget’, the funding would not have been available for expenditure in the context of the financial crisis.However, the decision to offer a ‘social safety net’ to all, rather than to the Government, has caused a deep and lasting rift within the government community. The debate that emerged was one led in part by the Labour government whose decision to raise the retirement age was seen as an attempt by the Government to boost the private sector participation of young middle-aged men across the country. Yet the Labour government subsequently responded that these youth would be better off with a family pension and a higher social security expenditure (the retirement age would no longer include all benefits for which benefits are expected to be included in their income and the age at which benefits come due would no longer be an issue). This argument was questioned by social science and the debate spread amongst the leading academics amongst social science groups, who argued that the increase in the private sector investment in the social services sector, at least in part due to the high cost of living, would lead to the decline in the incomes of middle-income individuals who had benefited as a result of the economic downturn. The paper concludes by stating that ‘the fact that the economic growth rate in the U.K. has slowed has created a significant social cost for working people.’The social cost of living is estimated by the Global Cost of Living Index at around 27%
Then new model being employed in crisi intervention training is Ecosystemic crisis intervention in the wake of a disaster. An ecosystemic crisis is one that spans at least a community and perhaps whole region or nations. It may be human made (September 11th), occur dramatically and leave long lasting environmental effects (Hiroshima) it may occur naturally (Asian/African Tsunami, Hurricanes in Florida) and may have the potential for a tremendous loss of life (the AIDS epidemic).
This method reaches far beyond the relational interactions between and among the various members of the crisis client’s family and individuals in the client’s workplace or immediate surroundings. This paradigm shift presents a newly emerging ecosystem that encompasses interdependency among and within people at all different levels of the total environment. It consists of five environmental systems:
The Bioecological Model Modified by BronfenbrennerMicro system: the setting in which the person in crisis lives. (family, friends, coworkers, peers, school, neighborhood, etc.)Direct social interactions/communications with othersPerson in crisis is not a passive recipient of experiences, but an active participantAlso, the settings have a positive or negative effect on the individual (i.e. family’s impact)Mesosystem: serves as the communications channel, pathway, or interactive mechanism between components in the microsystem and the exosystemTotal communications network that allows individuals and groups to exchange informationIncludes every form of communications from word of mouth to IM’s to television news broadcasts2a: Primary Mesosystem: maintains connections and communications among contexts such as the interactions within workplaces, schools, churches, families and peer groups, and local, social and governmental services.
Translators to speak to victims for whom the native tongue is not their primary languageSign language for a deaf person2b: Super Mesosystem: interlinks the macrosystem with all interior systems; serves as coordination on a national level, such as the weather forecasting systems, which link to local emergency operations centers.
Information systems such as the postal service, national radio/TV, internet, GPSFederal agencies (FEMA, Bureau of Homeland Security, Bureau of Justice, Red Cross, Emergency Broadcast system)Exosystem: exposes the crisis client or clients to experiences in a wider social setting than those encountered in the microsystem context.Legal and social welfare services, local mass media, governmental agencies and programs that impact the individual and assist individuals, families, or groups who are in crisis
Macrosystem: encompasses the total culture in which people live. Total culture includes behavior patterns, traditions, beliefs, mores, historical artifacts, legal constructs, and other traits and pursuits that are endemic to a group of people that are passed on from generation to generation. Includes national government and all its agencies, national charitable religious, service, professional, and benevolent organizations.
Also national rail, air, marine, and highway transportation modalities.Chronosystem: the patterning of environmental