It is important for schools to have well-prepared plans to respond to traumatic events.
The goal of crisis intervention is to provide counseling and assistance to individuals affected by traumatic events. Whether a traumatic event concerns human violence or a natural disaster, an individual or a group, the goal is to restore a sense of safety and attend to the psychological effects. A crisis-intervention plan is important not just for students; it also establishes protocols for faculty to respond to a crisis. With adolescents spending significant time and receiving mental health care in schools, crisis intervention has become an important responsibility.
How Children Respond to a Crisis
An individual's response to a traumatic event will vary according to both physical proximity to the event as well as emotional proximity. All children feel instability and a loss of control in response to a crisis, but according to the Center for School Mental Health Assistance at the University of Maryland, the response will be further affected by "his or her developmental level, mental health status prior to the trauma, community support availability, parental presence (or absence) during the event, as well as by the reaction of other significant adults." Young people also typically react to trauma with some level of anxiety, irritability, or problems sleeping, including many symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Crisis Plan
A crisis plan is an emergency protocol for a school to institute in the event of a crisis such as the death of a student or teacher, bomb threat, act of violence, community or national disaster or any other traumatic event. Just as all schools have fire-escape plans, schools have crisis plans for emergency incidents. The goal of the crisis plan is both to restore stability in response to the crisis, and then quickly work to mitigate the traumatic effects of the incident. However, crisis plans are often formed at the district level, and it is important for individual schools to tailor the plans to specific needs and prepare accordingly.
Crisis Team
A crisis team consists of individuals prepared to implement the crisis plan; principally mental health professionals supported by teachers and school staff. A crisis demands a variety of abilities to respond to students both physically and mentally. For example, it is important to have individuals who are skilled in first aid and CPR, individuals who have strong conflict resolution skills, and individuals to whom students tend to look to for leadership. It is also important for crisis teams to include teachers as teachers are the ones who will be with students during a crisis and will represent the first response.
Principles of Counseling
The crisis team's response to the emotional effects of the crisis, to the mental health of the student body, should begin as soon as possible when order is restored. Misinformation is common following a crisis and only adds to students' fears and anxieties. In addressing children, counselors should focus on accuracy and honesty in recalling events, while avoiding unnecessarily unpleasant details. It is also important for children to find some way to express their emotions and to understand that there is no normal response to a traumatic event. Lastly, it is desirable to return students to their routine as quickly as possible both to emphasize the present and to reestablish security and stability.
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