A crisis is a short-term, extremely distressing situation with the potential to lead to negative outcomes (Linehan, 2014). Mental health crises create a strong urge to act, often in unhelpful ways, and an individual may be at risk of hurting themselves or others and/or experiencing decreased functioning (Brister, 2018). Different stimuli result in crises for different people with culture playing a strong role in how meaning is attributed to a stressor, how a crisis is interpreted, and how individuals and communities express reactions to crises (Gopalkrishnan, 2018). Possible stressors, including those that may be linked to traumatic experiences, will be identified along with signs of a mental health crisis and trauma informed approaches for de-escalation. Components of culturally competent crisis response including acknowledgment and acceptance of cultural differences to facilitate immediate trust and rapport will be reviewed (Hernandez et al., 2015).