Urgency not Emergency
There are consultants who work well with clients in crisis. This looks like someone who was just hospitalized for a psychotic episode, or suicide attempt. Over the years I’ve learned that this isn’t the best client that I serve. I’d much prefer the young adult client who has a sense of urgency to change, not who’s in the thick of the emergency and needs immediate assistance. The latter client tends to not be involved as much with my onboarding, and decisions need to be made at a faster clip than I prefer.
When working with young adults, I prefer to establish rapport. They can be ambivalent about change, in fact that’s expected. That’s why I’m trained in Motivational Interviewing. I like to help the client focus on what they want to change and help them commit to that change. This takes time. I want them to be able to review program information, interview resources, and have time to decide. A decision that the young adult makes, not something that is executively made on their behalf. Again, sometimes that’s the only option though.
It's important to note that a sense of urgency can turn into an emergency in an instant. By engaging with the young adult and allowing them to lead the process in selecting a program can proactively get the young adult the help they need without it ever getting to the point of emergency. In fact, it’s better to get help at the point of urgency because things may not be completely out of hand – yet. Ever seen the image of the frog in the pot of boiling water? As the temperature is rising, the frog just learns to tolerate the heat. It gets to the point where the water is boiling and only then (read: emergency) is there awareness that they are boiling themselves alive. That’s not a good place to be! The silver lining for these clients is that if this happens, they know I can pivot quickly to help them. This is much preferred to the client who I haven’t established rapport with.
Awareness of what feels urgent is important. Change is urgent. Keeping on a better path sooner rather than later, is urgent. Helping curb substance misuse before it becomes full-blown addiction is urgent. Seeking mental health treatment for depression before it escalates to suicide ideation is very important. Urgency is the time in which you seek help, when a client is engaged in the process, and there feels like there’s a sense of hope. If you wait until it’s an emergency sometimes it’s hard to find even a sliver of hope in that moment.
If you aren’t already working with a consultant, consider hiring someone to help you during the stage of urgency. Try not to wait until it’s a crisis. Emergency is a crisis, and sometimes mistakes can be made at a moment’s notice. Like, enrolling in a program without having all the proper information about milieu, or private pay cost when your insurance stops providing coverage. I talk all the time about a sense of urgency. I’d rather be proactive working with a young adult rather than reactive and having to spend more of my time speaking with the parents to make a decision on behalf of their young adult.
For questions or comments contact Joanna.
