Show-Me Hope is Missouri’s crisis counseling program (CCP) in response to a disaster or critical event. Counselors are based in the local community to teach coping and stress management skills to anyone dealing with the anxiety and uncertainty caused by the event. The CCP helps individuals and communities recover from natural and human-caused disasters through community outreach and access to resources including mental health services.
Missouri has been involved with the CCP since the 1970s. Show-Me Hope activates when needs exceed the local community or state.
Goals and Principles
The CCP helps people recover and rebuild their lives after a disaster. It supports short-term interventions that involve the following counseling goals:
- Helping disaster survivors understand their current situation and reactions.
- Reducing stress and providing emotional support.
- Assisting survivors in reviewing their disaster recovery options.
- Promoting the use or development of coping strategies.
- Connecting survivors with other people and agencies who can help them in their recovery process.
Key principles that make it different from other survivor support programs are:
- Strengths-based: services promote resilience, empowerment, and recovery.
- Anonymous: Crisis counselors do not classify, label, or diagnose people. No records or case files are kept.
- Outreach-oriented: Crisis counselors deliver services in the communities rather than wait for survivors to seek their assistance.
- Conducted in nontraditional settings: Crisis Counselors make contact in homes and communities, not in clinical or office settings.
- Designed to strengthen existing community support systems: supplements, but does not end or replace, existing community systems.
Services
The CCP offers services to disaster survivors in their homes, shelters, temporary living sites, or houses of worship. Funded services include:
- Individual and group crisis counseling.
- Basic supportive or educational contact.
- Community networking and support.
- Assessments, referrals, and resources.
- Development and distribution of educational materials.
- Media and public service announcements.
As the community builds resilience, CCP services phase down and transition to the existing community resources.
If you are seeking treatment for mental and substance use disorders in the United States and its territories, please visit FindTreatment.gov
