Psychological Counseling of Clients in Crisis Situations

The article expands scientific ideas about methods and techniques of dealing with crisis situations in different approaches to psychological counseling of clients who are experiencing current crisis realities in a complex social space. Different psychological approaches to the problem of the impact of psychological counseling on the crisis states of clients at the integrative and systemic levels are analyzed. Significant features of the approaches most often used in the practice of crisis psychological counseling –gestalt-therapeutic, cognitive-behavioral, and existential– are highlighted. Based on the generalization of the theoretical and methodological foundations of crisis counseling, the important role of subject-activity, professionally competent, personality-oriented approaches is highlighted. The importance of maintaining a person’s mental health in a crisis and providing him/her with psychological assistance in counseling and therapeutic practice is emphasized. A theoretical and methodological approach to the requirements for the criteria of consulting practice effectiveness is indicated. The structurization, conditions for organization and providing crisis counseling at different stages (areas) of work is described. The use of a neuropsycho-corrective approach in the practice of crisis counseling is recommended. The significance of the integrative psychological approach to counseling mentioned by foreign and domestic researchers on the basis of a holistic vision of the relationship between the client’s psychological resources and the requirements of the crisis situation is noted. It is emphasized that the management of crisis education should be handled by the personnel services of organizations of extreme profile.