These resources can help schools prepare for crises that threaten the physical and emotional well-being of students, staff, and the community. Such events include violence, natural disasters, the unexpected death of a member of the school community, or media coverage of incidents that may upset students.
Preparing for and Preventing Crises
Crisis Response Box: A Guide to Help Every School Assemble the Tools and Resources Needed for a Critical Incident Response
(http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ss/cp/documents/crisisrespbox.pdf)
This comprehensive guide to a critical incident response process was created by the California Attorney General’s Crime and Violence Prevention Resource Center and the California Department of Education’s Safe Schools and Violence Prevention Office. The Crisis Response Box describes twenty pieces of crucial information that should be gathered and stored so it can be used during a critical incident to help contain the crisis and reduce the risk of violence and trauma to students and school staff.
Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools
(http://cecp.air.org/guide/guide.pdf)
This resource was designed help schools identify and respond to early warning signs of violence, obtain help for troubled children, create a crisis prevention and response plan, and respond to crises effectively.
Practical Information on Crisis Planning: A Guide for Schools and Communities
(http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/emergencyplan/crisisplanning.pdf)
This guide from the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools provides practical and concrete guidelines and ideas for developing an emergency response and crisis management plan.
Responding to a Crisis at School Resource Aid Packet
(http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/crisis/crisis.pdf)
This packet from the UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools contains resources for crisis planning, training staff, school-based crisis teams, including handouts for staff, students, and parents.
Preparing for and Preventing Violent Incidents in Schools (Threat Assessment)
Secret Service Safe Schools Initiative at the National Threat Assessment Center (http://www.ustreas.gov/usss/ntac_ssi.shtml)
The National Threat Assessment Center offers the following publications for schools and law enforcement agencies:
- Final Report and Findings: Implications for Prevention of School Attacks in the United States
- Threat Assessment in Schools: A Guide to Managing Threatening Situations and to Creating Safe School Climates.
- United States Secret Service Safe School Initiative: An Interim Report on the Prevention of Targeted Violence in Schools
- Evaluating Risk for Targeted Violence in Schools
Threat Assessment: An Essential Component of a Comprehensive Safe School Program
(http://www.nasponline.org/resources/principals/nassp_threat.pdf)
A publication of the National Association of School Psychologists
The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective
(http://www.fbi.gov/publications/school/school2.pdf)
A monograph from the Federal Bureau of Investigation presenting a systemic procedure for threat assessment and intervention. This procedure was designed to be used by educators, mental health professionals, and law enforcement agencies. It includes threat assessment standards that provide a framework for evaluating a spoken, written, and symbolic threat and providing a process to examine the person making the threat and assess the risk that the threat will be carried out.
Managing Bomb Threats for School Administrators
(http://www.aaets.org/article99.htm)
A resource from the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress on how to respond to bomb threats made against schools.
Preparing for and Preventing Suicides in Schools
Recognizing and Responding to the Warning Signs of Suicide: A Guide for Teachers and School Staff
(http://www.promoteprevent.org/Publications/center-briefs/
Teacher_Guide_recognizing_suicide.pdf)
This publication from the National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention will help staff identify students who may be at-risk of hurting themselves or others.
Suicide Prevention Resource Center
(http://www.sprc.org/)
Resources available on the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) Web site, a SAMHSA-funded project, include a series of short publications on Recognizing and Responding to the Warning Signs of Suicide (http://www.sprc.org/featured_resources/customized/index.asp) which can also be used to help identify and respond to warning signs of emotional disturbances that could result in violence directed at others. Individual publications are available for specific audiences, including teachers, teens, school health providers, and college students. The SPRC Web site contains other useful suicide prevention resources.
Suicide Prevention in Schools Resource Page
(http://www.promoteprevent.org/Resources/briefs/
suicide%20prevention%20in%20schools.html)
This National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention resource page provides additional resources on preventing and responding to suicides in schools.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
(http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/)
The Lifeline is a network of crisis centers committed to suicide prevention. Callers to the hotline will receive counseling from trained staff at the closest network-certified crisis center.
Crisis Response and Postvention Resources: Web sites and Organizations
SAMHSA’s National Mental Health Information Center
(http://www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/)
The National Mental Health Information Center Web site features a number of fact sheets and publications (some of which are available in Spanish), including the following:
- Tips for Talking about Traumatic Events (http://www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/cmhs/TraumaticEvents/tips.asp) Information for parents, teachers, and emergency and disaster response workers.
- Managing Anxiety in Times of Crisis (http://www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/cmhs/managinganxiety/tips.asp) Information for parents and caregivers on helping children and adolescents cope with fear and anxiety.
The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP)
(http://nasponline.org/)
NASP’s School Safety and Crisis Resources collection (http://www.nasponline.org/resources/crisis_safety/index.aspx) includes materials on responding to crisis, media and crisis, trauma, post-traumatic stress syndrome, and school safety. The NASP Web site also features crisis resources in Spanish and other languages.
Some especially useful NASP resources include:
- Talking To Children About Violence: Tips for Parents and Teachers
(http://www.nasponline.org/resources/crisis_safety/talkingviolence.pdf)
- Tips for Administrators for Reinforcing School Safety
(http://www.nasponline.org/resources/crisis_safety/schoolsafety_admin.aspx)
- How Children Deal with Trauma and Ongoing Threat: Information for Teachers and Parents (http://www.nasponline.org/resources/crisis_safety/ongoingthreat.aspx)
NASP also operates the National Emergency Assistance Team (NEAT) (http://nasponline.org/resources/crisis_safety/NEAT.aspx) that will respond (on request) to schools facing a traumatic event.
National Institute of Mental Health (http://www.nimh.nih.gov/healthinformation/traumaticmenu.cfm)
The National Institute of Mental Health offers a number of publications for helping children and adolescents cope with traumatic events, including the following:
- Helping Children and Adolescents Cope with Violence and Disasters: What Parents Can Do.
- Helping Children and Adolescents Cope with Violence and Disasters: What Community Members Can Do.
- Helping Children and Adolescents Cope with Violence and Disasters: What Rescue Workers Can Do
Parents Trauma Resource Center
(http://www.tlcinstitute.org/PTRC.html)
The Parents Trauma Resource Center is a resource about grief and trauma for parents and caregivers. It is a project of the National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children. The site features:
- Information describing typical grief and trauma reactions and the difference between the two.
- How parents can help their children and themselves.
- How to address specific concerns, including behavioral problems, sexual abuse, war, and terrorism.
- Specific information for infants, toddlers, children and adolescents.
- Detailed activities for parents to use to engage their children and to help calm their anxieties.
- Recommended books and resources on grief and trauma.
- Links to other Web sites for more specific information.
This information is available in English, Spanish, and Arabic.
Crisis Response and Postvention Resources: Online Publications
An Informal Homicide and Multicultural Questionnaire
– Michael Tramonte
(http://www.aaets.org/article104.htm)
This tool from the American Academy of Experts helps mental health professionals develop a framework for serving the postvention needs of particular individuals, groups, or communities in light of their specific cultural perspectives on issues including death and privacy.
Caring for Kids After Trauma, Disaster, and Death: A Guide for Parents and Professionals (Second Edition) (http://www.aboutourkids.org/aboutour/articles/crisis_guide02.pdf)
This comprehensive guide from the New York University Child Study Center provides educational and practical guidance to help schools and parents understand and respond to children’s reactions to traumatic events. Topics include:
- Children’s reaction to death and trauma
- Identifying children at risk
- Guidelines for schools and parents for helping children affected by disasters and trauma
- Helping children cope with natural disasters
- Media exposure and traumatic events
- Terrorism and war: Preventing anger from fostering hate and bias
- Fostering resilience
- Children and bereavement
- Recognizing when children need professional help
- Anniversaries and memorials
How Schools Can Help Students Recover From Traumatic Experiences: A Tool Kit For Promoting Long-Term Recovery
– L. Jaycox, L. Morse, T. Tanielian, B. Stein. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation, 2006
(http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/2006/RAND_TR413.pdf)
This tool kit for promoting long-term recovery from traumatic experiences includes information on recovery programs grouped by trauma category (such as natural disasters or exposure to violence). The information on each program includes goals, target populations, delivery, implementation requirements, and evidence of effectiveness. The tool kit also includes information on obtaining funding for programs, immediate response to traumatic events, and helping mental health staff and school personnel.
Crisis Response and Postvention: Culture and Cultural Competence
An Activity Book For African American Families: Helping Children Cope with Crisis, Natural Disasters, and Terrorism (http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/cope_with_crisis_book/index.cfm)
This online resource was developed by the National Black Child Development Institute and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to help children and parents communicate and heal in the wake of traumatic events.
Cultural Perspectives on Trauma and Critical Response
(http://www.nasponline.org/resources/crisis_safety/neat_cultural.aspx)
A short publication from the National Association of School Psychologists providing guidance on how culture shapes interpretation of traumatic events and how practitioners can identify and respond to these interpretations.
Developing Cultural Competence in Disaster Mental Health Programs:
Guiding Principles and Recommendations
(http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publications/allpubs/SMA03-3828/sectiontwo.asp)
This online publication from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration assists practitioners on issues including cultural profiles, recruiting relief workers, cultural competence training, using “cultural brokers,” providing equitable culturally and linguistically competent relief services, and understanding the role of culturally-specific help-seeking behaviors.
Natural Disasters and Terrorism
For information on how schools can prepare for and respond to natural disasters and terrorism, please refer to the National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention Disaster Relief Resource Page (http://www.promoteprevent.org/Resources/briefs/disaster%20relief.asp)
Colleges and Universities
For information appropriate to college and university audiences please refer to these Web pages created by the U.S. Department of Education’s Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention (http://www.higheredcenter.org/)
- Emergency Preparedness Resources
(http://www.higheredcenter.org/violence/emergency-preparedness.html) - Responding to a Violent or Traumatic Event
(http://www.higheredcenter.org/violence/responding_to_a_
violent_or_traumatic_event.html) - Resources for Victims/Survivors
(http://www.higheredcenter.org/violence/survivors.html)
- Preventing Violence and Promoting Safety in Higher Education Settings: Overview of a Comprehensive Approach
(http://www.higheredcenter.org/pubs/violence.html)
