The Consultation Team History
The Consultation Team was established over a dozen years ago, when
Dr. Thomas Parham and Dr. Christine Browning of the Counseling Center were
responcling to a request for consultation from a staff supervisor concerning a threat of
violence. Dr. Parham thought it necessary to call various agency heads around the table
to consider the complex issues presented and to consider various interventions. The
initial Team met and resolved the incident. The members agreed that the collaboration
was valuable to the particular interest of all. The development of the Team had neither
official authority nor higher administrative mandate. Its existence and its conventions
were born out of pragmatic necessity and have functioned since with Dr. Parham's
office taking the lead. Since that time, the Team has continued to meet on a quarterly or
semi-annual basis as a proactive way of discussing campus protocols for responding to
psychiatric emergencies and other matters of urgency.
Purpose
The purpose of the Consultation Team is to bring to bear the collective wisdom, specific
expertise, professional perspectives, agency concerns and campus responsibility to the
management of a crisis that because of its reach, complexity or potential for risk,
demand the involvement of multiple campus agencies and stakeholders. During these
meetings crisis management issues are discussed, hypothetical and actual cases are
reviewed as well as the protocols for responding to these crises are reviewed and
updated. The agency-specific legal, ethi'cal, professional laws and guidelines are
adhered to while members work together.
The types of cases addressed by the Team include: a student who chrOnically behaves
with compelling para-suicidal behaviors such as the sharing of suicidal thoughts along
with evasive and indirect cries for help; an anorexic student who apparently denies the
risk to self as her weight steadily decreases due to self starvation and the obsessive use
of exercise; a student who successfully maneuvers around campus rules and guidelines
to maintain student status without ever making final completion of a particular major; a
threatening student who is able to feign naivete while mounting an apparently
progressive assault on the object of his obsessive preoccupation; a faculty member who
is victim of a student's erotic imaginations and an angry pursuit of a romantic
relationship; and a verbally violent student who sends aggressive emails and is known
to be a firearm enthusiast. In many of these cases the behavior is disruptive while
simultaneously a possible indication of psychological impairment-giving pause to
those wanting to respond without triggering a worsening of the problem.
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Structure
(See Diagram 1: Core and Activated Members). The core members of the
Consultation Team provide an informed collaborative intelligence to be tapped by any
point of contact with a need to know or because the crisis is relevant to his or her area of
concern. The Core Team consists of:
Assistant Vice Chancellor of Health & Counseling Services UCI Police Department University Ombudsman"" Legal Counsel Dean of Students Counseling Center *The role of the University Ombudsman is to observe the discussion and bring up areas
which should be considered. Due to impartiality, however, the Ombudsman does not
participate in any decisions made during the meetings."
Activated Members. Those member agencies not included in the Core are activated on
a "need-to-know" basis. That is, if it is decided by a member of the Core that other
agencies should be involved in the Consultation Team, those agencies will be invited to
participate. Activation of the Consultation Team typically begins at some point of
contact where the critical incident or issue begins. The agency at the point of contact is
routinely included at the start. Agencies that are often at the point of contact or are
brought in on the consultation on a need-to-know basis are included below:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Faculty/Staff Counseling Center
Student HealthlMental Health CliniclMental Health Coordinator
Department HeadlUnit Manager
Campus Assault ReSOUIces and Education
Human ResoUIces
Risk Management
Academic Dean
Academic Personnel
Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity
Housing
Communications
Environmental Health and Safety
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Diagram 1: Core & Activated :Members
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6/2/2010 Procedures
The points along the outer circle of the Diagram I represent the potential points of
contact where a critical incident or circumstance that reaches a high level of concern will
make way for the personnel to consult with a Core member of the Consultation Team.
The Core member may decide to have the entire Consultation Team called to include
those agencies determined to have a need to know and/or relevant for the planning of
interventions. Once called, a meeting time is established and all relevant agency
representatives are invited to the place and time for the Team meeting. (See Diagram 2:
Point of Contact Consultation Team Activation).
If there are no critical incidents or circumstances requiring Consultation Team attention,
the group gets together regardless on a semi-annual basis to review crisis management
and intervention protocols
Diagram2:
Point of Contact Team Activation
Critical Incident
or Circumstance
At Point of
Contact Raised
to High Level of
Concern
Consultation
between Core
Team
Member
& Point of
Contact
Entire Core &
Need-to-Know
Members Activated
Re\iew Crisis
lIbnagement &
Crisis
No Critical Incidents or
Circumstances Happened
Quarterly or Semi-Annually ,-_--,
Intervention
Protocols
Coordinated
Plan
wNarious
Scenarios
Reviewed
4
. ,Point of·.··
Contact
Persoruiel
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.ConsUltation.
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