1. Crisis Response and Information Services
Melissa Deletetsky
Standards Development & Performance Measurement
July 2006
(A) Hello, my name is Melissa Deletetsky and I am a standards associate at the Council on Accreditation. I would like to welcome you to this self-paced webinar, designed to let you view the session at your convenience, and move as quickly or slowly through the material as you like.
The presentation time is listed in the upper left hand corner of your screen. When you are finished viewing the slide presentation, you will receive instructions for how to print the slide show, if desired.

2. Crisis Response and Information Services (CRI) Purpose Statement
Crisis Response and Information services operate as part of the community’s crisis response system to provide immediate, dependable responses and reliable information to promote safety and stability for the individual in crisis .
(B) The section we will be discussing in this session is Crisis Response and Information Services or CRI. CRI is one of COA’s service sections. These standards used to be known as “S” standards, which stood for “service,” and carried a number, in this case, S9. As you can see, that system has been replaced with an easy to remember abbreviation.
(C) The stated purpose of the Crisis Response and Information Services standards is: “Crisis Response and Information Services operate as part of the community’s crisis response system to provide immediate, dependable responses and reliable information to promote safety and stability for the individual in crisis.” By stating this purpose, COA is guiding your organization to consider to what extent its Crisis Response and Information program supports the achievement of identified positive outcomes such as safety and stability.
May 19
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3. © Council on Accreditation 2005 All Rights Reserved
What are Indicators of a Strong Crisis Response and Information Program?
Operate as part of the community’s crisis response system
Community collaboration
Responsive to community’s needs
Minimize barriers to the initiation of services
Cultural
Linguistic
Geographic
24 hour access
Strong crisis response and information programs are fully incorporated into the community’s crisis response system and minimize barriers to the initiation of services. These themes have been integrated throughout the entire section. The standards stress both collaboration with other service providers and the importance of being responsive to the community’s crisis response needs. You will notice in standards 5.01 and 5.02 that it is not required that the organization have written contracts with all collaborating providers. However, to facilitate immediate access to services, referrals, and service coordination, it is required that there be formal arrangements or procedures for working with emergency responders, legal services, and local social service, mental health, and medical resources. The standards promote the elimination of barriers of all kinds including cultural, linguistic, or geographic and ensure that services are accessible 24 hours a day.
May 19
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4. Core Concept Highlights
Service Delivery Integration:
G8, Intake Assessment and Service Planning
G9, Service Delivery
CRI 2 Screening and Assessment
CRI 4 Service Philosophy
In the revision process, 7th edition standards that were previously found in G8, intake assessment and service planning; and G9, Service Delivery, were incorporated into the service sections. This integration was an opportunity to tailor these standards to fit individual services and include only those standards that were applicable to the particular service. This is clearly evident in CRI where lengthy assessments and extensive service plans are not the norm. There are two core concepts out of the 10 in CRI that came from the integration and the practice standards within them have been further customized to fit within CRI program design. They are Screening and Assessment and Service Philosophy.
May 19
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5. © Council on Accreditation 2005 All Rights Reserved
Core Concepts cont.
CRI 1 Access to Services
CRI 3 Quality of Services
CRI 5 Community Connections and Coordination
Other core concepts in the section include access to services, which addresses the need for accessibility and community education; Quality of Services, which supports the sections overall purpose by requiring organizations to monitor service use and continuously evaluate their referral resources so they can operate efficiently and effectively as part of the community’s crisis response system; CRI 5 includes practice standards explicitly designed to promote community collaboration and coordination…
May 19
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6. © Council on Accreditation 2005 All Rights Reserved
Core Concepts Cont.
CRI 6 Crisis Intervention Services
CRI 7 Crisis Hotline and Information and Referral Services
CRI 8 Crisis Hotline Services: Additional Requirements
CRI 9 Personnel: Crisis Intervention Services and Crisis Hotline Services
CRI 10 Personnel: All Services
CRI 6, 7, and 8 address service specific standards for programs providing Crisis Intervention Services, Crisis Hotlines, and Information and Referral Services. These three sections have NA options for any organization that does not provide a particular service. The last two concepts in CRI address personnel topics.
May 19
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7. Support Groups or Short Term Counseling
“Note: An organization that provides education and support groups as part of its Crisis Response and Information Service will also complete the Counseling, Support, and Education Services section.”
Any crisis response and information program that offers support groups or short term counseling in addition to their hotline, crisis intervention, or information and referral service will be required to meet standards within the Counseling, Support, and Education section. The “Note” shown here explains the requirement and can be found at the beginning of the CRI section.
May 19
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8. © Council on Accreditation 2005 All Rights Reserved
Rape Crisis Services
Domestic Violence (S12)
F) Rape crisis programs are now reviewed under CRI. In the past, rape crisis services were reviewed using the domestic violence standards; however, review of the literature as well as feedback from the field demonstrated that it was not an appropriate fit. Rape crisis programs providing hotline services, information and referral, or brief crisis intervention will be reviewed using the CRI standards
Crisis Response and
Information Services (CRI)
May 19
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9. Essential Life and Safety
CRI 2.02, CRI 2.03, CRI 5.01, CRI 6.02,
CRI 6.03, CRI 8.01, CRI 8.02, CRI 8.03,
CRI 9.02
* For more information on Essential Life and Safety Standards please see the Accreditation Guidelines.
(E) Due to the nature of the section, there are a significant number of essential life and safety standards that promote the health and safety of the organization’s service recipients. These standards are fundamental to practice and must be implemented to achieve accreditation. A complete list of these essential life and safety standards is shown here and can also be found in the Fundamental Practice Standards chart that follows the table of evidence.
May 19
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10. Standards Implementation
Evidence of Implementation
Pre-site
Documents to demonstrate staff competency
Procedures
Community database (see CRI 5.03, 7.02)
On-site
Outreach strategies
Procedures for evaluating community needs/resources
Staff interviews
(G) Once you have familiarized yourself with the content of the CRI section, you will begin to focus on standards implementation. Examples of important evidence of implementation that the organization will want to develop to promote positive outcomes are training curricula and organizational charts illustrating lines of supervision to demonstrate staff competency; service coordination procedures; and an up-to-date database of community providers that includes information such as location, services offered, fee schedule, and eligibility requirements.
When the peer site team visits the organization they will be interested in looking at outreach strategies, procedures for evaluating referral resources, community needs, and service usage; and conducting interviews with personnel at all levels. Full information about pre-site documents and onsite activities is contained in the table of evidence.
May 19
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11. © Council on Accreditation 2005 All Rights Reserved
Thank you!
Council on Accreditation
120 Wall Street, 11th Floor
New York, NY 10005
Melissa Deletetsky,
(I) I would now like to welcome you to any questions you may have to me at the address shown. If you would like to print the slide show, click on the word “attachments” in the upper right hand corner and select the slide presentation.  Thank you for your interest in the new 8th Edition Crisis Response and Information Services.
May 19
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