Families In Crisis: How To Handle A Family Crisis

As defined by the American Heritage Dictionary, a crisis is a crucial or decisive point or situation; a turning point. Things will either get better, or they get worse, and sometimes, daily hassles can be amassed which may cause a stress overload. Crisis is a serious event which is very stressful and may come accidentally. It is also defined as a situation in which individual may perceive the stress factors or hazardous event as a threat.

Have you ever been involved in a family crisis? How these crises affected you and your family? What did you do in order to survive these and protect your family relationships?

Going through a family crisis is what I think the worst part of one’s family life. It is the point in our life where the relationships or ties of our families are under risk to be broken or to fall apart. At times of crisis, one person can’t solve the conflicts by himself alone. All of the family members must work together and find effective ways to resolve the crisis among them.

Internal or external events may result to a family crisis. Internal events like death, drug addiction, health diseases, or external events like flood, unemployment are examples of these events that may trigger a crisis in a family. Either way, it provides a turning point for a family to either work hard as one for them to be closer to each other or exert no effort and just fall apart. In this point of time, a family can easily adapt to a crisis by being flexible and through the support that they give to each other. In addition, a family may need more guidance in handling a crisis in the best ways.

Today I came across with an article entitled How to Handle a Family Crisis which is written by Jennifer Magnesi, one of the eHow contributors. This article is very helpful especially for those who are currently in crisis. The article contains the following instructions:

1. Communicate with each other during and after the crisis. It is important for family members to communicate with each other before, during and after a crisis without using foul languages or antipathy. The members of a family should be able to share their feelings and emotions and come up with a solution together.
2. Have one-on-one discussions with family members who seem to need more attention or guidance. Here, it is important to have a one-on-one talk with any of the members who is in need of attention or guidance. The parent or guardian should listen to her child and help her overcome any issues she is currently facing over the crisis.
3. Avoid placing blame, pointing fingers or judging other family members. A family should stick together to get through a family crisis. Lean on each other and accept individuals' flaws without pointing fingers at anyone in the family for the problem.
4. Accept your hardships as they are and move forward to the next phase of your life as a family. Learn to accept what has happened in order for you to move on and make a better new life for yourself.
5. Spend as much time as you can as a family. A family should eat lunch or dinner together, go on outings or picnics, and organize family events.
6. Get outside help if and when you need it. If there's a need for outside help, don't hesitate to seek help in your community, government funding and organizations, churches and counselors.

As we all know, crisis will be always a burden on individuals and the family as a whole. But if the family makes an effort to resolve the conflicts/crisis in their family in such a manner that is acceptable and effective, it may be possible that relationships and ties that the family built for many years will remain or will become stronger. Through the acceptance of such crisis, one may be able to move on from it and make a new life for himself.