29 SEPTEMBER 2010
NO 1634
Debriefing
After a crisis intervention has passed, what use can be made of that challenging event? This article introduces the concept of Postvention which involves debriefing following critical events to gain a deeper understanding of a young person.
This store has had the "closed" sign displayed for some time now. You can look in, but no one is looking back at you. Windows once transparent are clouded and distort images within. Signs of regret stain hardened surfaces. If you look closely you can see imprints made in earlier layers of dust, indicating some attention — or perhaps messages. Someone has swept in here. But, debris was merely moved from one place to another. Remnants of broken dreams pushed under a rug. Empty containers stand sturdy and seemingly able to hold some new "goods." Outdated signs advertise what was once available. Prices paid could never truly reflect the value lost. The register is open, but empty. What currency occupied this space? There is a valuable inventory here. Some which never was counted. It is time to look closely at what is left. It will be crucial to re-open. It is where we start, if we restore.
Work with youth in crisis can parallel the visual a boarded-up shop can create. Consider those you work with who seem to have a "closed" sign posted but you see valuable inventory inside. Have you looked into windows and seen lives of disarray and tried to decipher messages left in the dust of past experiences? Can you see characteristics which stand strong, ready to be put to good use? Efforts to help youth reclaim the valuable inventory of their core being — what was there before the closed sign went up — provide a path to re-open and to restore lives. While there are certainly clear tasks in our professions to "clean up" and "dust off," true restoration values the original. To consider a concept of "restoring," we are recognizing and honoring the fact that there was something there in the first place.
In the aftermath of a crisis incident, CPI’s Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® training discusses a Postvention debriefing process. It is not uncommon for staff working with youth who have acted out to want to quickly complete "steps" which will bring things back to "normal." While a debriefing process related to a specific incident is important in affecting closure and even in preventing future incidents, there are further opportunities which can be overlooked. True restorative outcomes can evolve from efforts intent not only on building bridges from crisis situations to prevention, but on joining the youth in revisiting elements of their core being. Valuing and respecting individual humanity at its core involves more than responding to a behavior. We need to look at the belief system that is driving behavior and then clear away more debris to learn about the thinking which has created those beliefs. Otherwise, our work may end up being just another coat of paint — or another imprint in the dust of children’s lives soon to be covered by another conflict or clutter from their reality.
In the process of Postvention, we may learn from emotions conveyed in a period of Tension Reduction. While some emotions are directly related to the incident being reviewed, other emotions surface which will not seem as relevant to the incident. It is the latter which can give us a valuable glimpse into a window of a young person’s core being. Because this period of time after a crisis is a time where someone is naturally vulnerable, underlying aspects of his or her personhood may emerge. These may be those "signs" which show us what was once available to this evolving person. Interviewing skills from Life Space Crisis Intervention (currently being utilized by Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® Certified Instructors who have participated in Enhancing Verbal Skills: Applications of Life Space Crisis Intervention™) offer tools to build upon crisis debriefing in a manner which captures this valuable information to help us in more inclusive restorative efforts. As we listen and work with the youth in this process, we also recognize the strength of "containers" they possess which have appeared empty but are capable of holding so much. We may hear the "register" of their past and get clues to what was bartered and exchanged in attempts to feel worthy. We have opportunities to look under the rugs — to see what broken dreams may have been swept aside. As we learn, we can teach and we can aid youth in reclaiming their valuable inventory.
Our positions may not allow us to respond as we may wish in these moments of enlightenment. But our objective is to be an active part of restorative outcomes. This will mean creatively finding ways to be part of a bridge to a grand re-opening of what may have become a closed-off life. Let us all join as committed stakeholders and recognize opportunities after a crisis which can contribute to long-term restorative outcomes for youth.
JUDITH SCHUBERT
Schubert, J. (2006). The store before. Reclaiming
Children and Youth, 15, 3. pp. 185-186.