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Trauma Care
26/11 Aftermath
Role of Crisis Counselling
in 'People Recovery'
By Manoj Ajgaonkar & Kunal Rangole, Mahindra Special Services Group
Hectic pace of modern life coupled
with constant pressure to perform
has brought people on the brink of
emotional breakdown. With the
current levels of stress, even a minor
reaction provoking incident can lead
to a conflict resulting in rage and
THE PROTECTOR
violence. disastrous.
When people with such high
emotional vulnerability are
subjected to traumatic events such
as the recent 26/11 Mumbai terror
attacks, the outcome could be
Disaster recovery plans are designed
to ensure resumption of core
activities with minimum financial and
operational impact; however it is
crucial to understand that without
the people required to carry out the
resumption, these plans will fail
miserably to deliver.
Crisis counseling, with its ability to
address the human side of the
disaster, forms an extremely
important tool for disaster recovery
as “people recovery” constitutes of
almost 70 percent of any recovery
process.
What is Crisis Counselling?
Counseling is provided to an
individual who had a traumatic
experience which has resulted in
disrupting his general sense of
security, safety and direction. Crisis
Counseling or Trauma Management
involves providing prompt first-level
support and guidance to an
individual or a community during a
crisis to help them restore their stable
mental state.
Crisis Counseling provides the initial
level of support required to pacify the
victim, however depending upon the
mental state, the victim might be
referred to a specialist for long-term
support. This implies that a crisis
brings about numerous
extraordinary responses in
individuals which have to be dealt,
immediately and effectively through
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