When I completed my own CRISIS Schema training, I was thrilled, but all my ideas for using it would have to wait; trying to find people interested in signing up for the training so I could become a trainer myself (my teacher instincts kicked in), training youth would be great, my former education teams would benefit so much from it too, etc. So I thought I'll let the summer pass and think about it later!
But then, a couple of weeks after, I arrived at the scene of a car accident. The first responders had not arrived yet but some good Samaritans were talking to the people involved. I stop anyway to make sure there is nothing I can do. I keep thinking I have a strategy to help these people if necessary. The people directly involved have to talk to the police and paramedics so I am not needed. I go back to my car and next to it, 2 cyclists are there and look upset. I approach them slowly. They confide in me that if they had not stopped at the intersection to talk, they probably would have been mowed down in the collision. I used a few questions from the CRISIS SCHEMA, there were a few tears on their side and they were ready to go on their way. They kept thanking me but I had only asked a few questions! As I left, I told myself that I needed a cheat sheet with me at all times. I started to learn the questions by heart :)
A few weeks went by and then I went with a loved one to the doctor to get some medical test results. We suspected the news would be difficult. And as it turned out...80% chance that the nodule was cancerous, surgery in sight. I thought, 'Gina, right now, this isn't about you and your emotions. How can you really help her?' CRISIS Schema came to mind. She wanted to go to a restaurant after the news and chat so that's what we did. I used, roughly, the questions that I knew more by heart this time. I followed her lead into this unknown that comes after receiving such a diagnosis. She was talking about innocuous things through the conversation, I was following her. Another question from me, she was following me and so on for a couple hours, until she was ready to go home. She later told me how good this time together had been for her, that she had gotten out everything she had to get out and that since then she had a serenity. My heart was smiling.
Since then, in my private practice, I have had the chance to use this technique many times with amazing results and I still use it informally in my personal life in order to help those around me.
By taking this training I've given myself a gift; to understand people's suffering and to really help them.....