38-6 An Investigation of Crisis Management for Suicide/Self-injury: The Experiences of Foar Private Universities in Northern Taiwan

Campus crisis management has become a necessary aspect of a counselor's job. Specifically, management of suicide/self-injury crises is one of the most common occurrences faced by university-based counselors. In responding to the increasing suicide/self-injury incidences across campuses, the Ministry of Education in Taiwan stipulated a student depression and suicide/self-injury prevention and management flowchart based on the tertiary prevention concept. By studying the experiences of four university counseling centers in Northern Taiwan, this study explored the obstacles faced and the solutions adopted by each of these universities in managing crises. It is hoped that this study can help supplement the crisis management procedures formulated by the Ministry of Education and that the unique culture of the various universities can be incorporated into the emergency management procedures to help each campus responding to crises. The present study analyzed case files as well as conducted focus groups to collect information related to obstacles encountered during crisis and the corresponding management strategies used in each of the campuses. The specific elements of assessment, referral, liaison, reporting, meeting, and follow-up counseling indicated in the emergency case management model were examined. Results of the study suggest that difficulties in carrying out assessment, referral and medical treatment were found across campuses and each university has developed its own unique responding strategies. Approaches to liaison and reporting were found to be divergent across campuses due to differences in the administrative culture of each university. On the basis of the above results, the current study forwards a modified version of the suicide/self-injury crisis management reference flowchart to help address concerns across campuses.

Keywords
campus suicide/self-injury crisis intervention ; emergency case management ; school counselor

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