Model curriculum in Medical Crisis Counseling. Linda Pollin Foundation/NIMH Workshop

This document describes a curriculum model for a year-long fellowship training program in Medical Crisis Counseling designed for health care professionals selected as Linda Pollin Fellows. The document was developed at the Second Annual Workshop, cosponsored in 1990 by the National Institute of Mental Health and the Linda Pollin Foundation. Conference participants included experts in the field of mental health--representing psychiatry, nursing, psychology, and social work--who were divided into task forces focusing on various content areas: clinical, sociocultural, managerial and administrative, liaison/educational, and research and evaluation. The document develops the content in these areas. Although designed for Pollin Fellows, the curriculum, once implemented and evaluated, may be modified for use in the basic education of a variety of health professionals. The philosophy upon which the curriculum is based incorporates the following core concepts: 1) each Fellow must have a skilled supervisor (Mentor), 2) the supervisor-trainee relationship should embody the essence of the future relationship between trainees and their patients, and 3) Medical Crisis Counseling is essentially a multidisciplinary enterprise.