Crisis Intervention De-escalation Steps: Safely Assessing and Calming Individuals in Mental Health Crisis Calls

🔑 Understanding how to verbally de-escalate a situation can make it safer for everyone involved.

📋 Assessing the situation and the person's behavior is the first step in crisis intervention.

👂 Active listening is crucial in effectively de-escalating a mental health crisis.

👋 Introduce yourself and establish a connection with the person in crisis.

📋 Use open-ended questions to gather information about the person's situation.

🔍 Pay attention to clues in the person's responses to better understand how to help.

Reflecting back what the person has said shows understanding and listening.

Showing empathy through body language and tone of voice is effective in crisis intervention.

Developing rapport involves having an honest conversation and avoiding arguments or feeding into delusions.

Be honest about what you're going to do and explain procedures before you do them in simple language.

Watch for physical signs that a person is calming down during a crisis.

Give the person time to choose from acceptable options and aim for their agreement on the safest course of action.