Crises strike quickly and without warning. This is evident in the recent shootings at Virginia Tech, the Amish School in Pennsylvania, and at Columbine High School in Colorado. Other recent crises include the natural disaster in Louisiana and Mississippi (Hurricane Katrina) and the terrorist attack of September 11^th. However, crisis may also prove smaller in scale, including car accidents, suicide, and the sudden death of friends or family members. These events can be considered frightening for some and traumatic for others.

Due to the profound effect of crisis upon youth and its subsequent negative influence upon student’s academic performance, school teachers and counselors play an essential role in providing crisis support for students and their family members. Gysbers and Henderson (2000) speak to the necessity of incorporating a crisis plan into a comprehensive school counseling program. Additional interventions will be described in this article, including suggestions for teachers, school counselors, and parents.

Crisis Counseling

Crisis counseling can be defined as an immediate, short term counseling intervention for an occurring or recently occurred event. The goals of crisis counseling within the school setting are to improve the functioning of a student, return them to a balanced status, and to prevent a decline in their social, academic, and emotional functioning. Crisis counseling provides guidance, education, and support for students and key family members to help them cope with their current situation. If a student is not progressing and it is determined that longer-term assistance is necessary, school counselors will typically refer him or her to a community counselor. Additional interventions could include family counseling, group counseling, and medication.

Developmental Responses to Crisis

Children will react uniquely to crisis situations—some may be profoundly affected while others experience little or no reaction. Symptoms resulting from a crisis will frequently pass as a child readjusts. However, if symptoms persist, it is recommended that a referral to an outside agency be made. Symptoms may not appear until several days or weeks following the event, and may include regressive or atypical behavior. An example of atypical behavior is an outgoing child or adolescent who becomes shy and withdrawn. Regressive behavior entails a regression to past behaviors, such as baby talk or thumb sucking for children. Age will also determine certain reactions. Below is a description of common reactions for each school-age group. Being able to recognize developmentally appropriate reactions can be helpful in understanding normal and abnormal behaviors in response to a crisis.

Elementary-Age Children

Children in elementary school will often experience anxiety and fear when facing a crisis. The emergence of fears unrelated to the actual event is normal (e.g., fears of darkness or the death of a parent). Children in this age group may become overly preoccupied with the details of the incident and want to talk about it repeatedly. They may exhibit symptoms such as thumb sucking, whining, clinginess, irritability, aggressiveness, or competitiveness with siblings. They may avoid or lose interest in school, complain of headaches or other physical symptoms, withdraw from peers, experience regressive behaviors, nightmares, or possible depression.

Middle School Aged Children

Pre-adolescents in middle school will experience crisis in reference to their peers, with concern that their feelings will be judged. Anxiety, fear, and possible feelings of guilt can emerge with this age group. Often, middle school students will need to be reminded that his/her feelings are appropriate and that others feel similarly. Signs that a middle school student is experiencing trauma after a crisis may include sleep disruptions, stomach and headaches, fighting at school, withdrawal from school activities, loss of interest in friends, and rebelliousness.

High School Students

High school students may react physically as well emotionally when dealing with crisis. Adolescents may experience a combination of school-aged and adult reactions. They may be overwhelmed with emotions and engage in risky or delinquent behaviors. They may perform poorly in school, experience head and stomachaches, a change in friends, depression, poor concentration, changes in energy level, and indifference.

What Teachers Can Do

Teachers are essential members in providing leadership and support for students in a crisis situation in the schools. Suggestions for teachers in a time of crisis include:

• Assure student safety in any manner necessary.
• Inform the counselor or administration regarding high-risk or isolated students or individuals reacting in an extreme manner to the event.
• Provide concise, age-appropriate facts about the event, as students ask for it.
• Avoid glorifying victims or sensationalizing the event (keep your own reactions in check).
• Encourage supervised class discussions if students seem especially focused upon the event.
• Limit classroom television viewing or radio exposure regarding the event, which increase anxiety.
• Allow students to exit class to discuss the event with the counselor.
• Provide an activity that will help students combat a sense of helplessness (e.g., writing letters of condolence to the family of the victims, getting politically active, etc).
• Self care is key: teachers model coping responses. Seek support in friends, family, colleagues, or the school counselor.

What Counselors Can Do

Counselors play a key role in managing responses in the school, staff, student, and parent populations. Crisis response is more practical than psychological, most often requiring that counselors provide information, activities and structure to help students recover and move past the crisis. Listening as students and family members work through their feelings and reaction to the events is a key activity. Reinforce that talking about the event helps alleviate stress and fears. Additional suggestions:

• In the case of suicide, school violence, or community-related disasters begin by honoring the procedures of the school crisis plan—having a proscribed response can be helpful in a time of crisis.
• Establish the safety of the students/families. This may run the gamut from merely listening to fears or referring them to housing/community/legal resources.
• Assess the risk of any follow-up responses to crisis and act quickly (e.g., copy-cat suicides, retaliation of gang violence, or chances of isolated or at-risk students reacting adversely), involving additional supports such as law enforcement.
• Provide concise, age-appropriate information about the event as students ask for it. Uncertainty breeds anxiety. In-depth details increase children’s fears.
• Avoid glorifying victims or sensationalizing the event (keep your own reactions in check).
• Bolster youth’s coping skills by increasing awareness of strengths/contacts they have and increasing emotional expression coping skills, cognitive coping skills, and relaxation training.
• Call in assistance. In a crisis, area-wide school and community counselors are more than willing to assist.
• Make counselors available to teachers, staff, students throughout the school or at local community centers at all hours (e.g., churches, Boys and Girls Club).
• Check in with teachers and administrators who may self-isolate, feeling pressure to ‘bear the crisis silently.’
• Educate parents through many mediums (websites, local radio/newspaper/ television) regarding normal responses to crisis, PTSD symptoms, caretaking, and available support.
• Remember to take care of yourself. Seek support in other colleagues/counseling professionals to avoid burnout.

Cultural Considerations for Professionals

Individual student culture dictates reactions and coping responses to crisis. If uncertain, you may want to refer to an expert in your students’ predominant culture to determine the best resources and to be able to recognize normal versus abnormal responses. Be open to what works for your clients.

• Reactions and coping responses that may be influenced by culture include a profuse show of emotion or emotional stoicism that includes absolute silence regarding the event.
• Some groups may expect prolonged or life-long grieving (e.g., traditional Italian and Latino families).
• Individuals of many cultures will seek religious support, including praying and specific rituals.

• Some victims may require additional advocacy: refer out for legal assistance or any other support services necessary, preferably with professionals who are familiar with the client’s language and culture.
• Seek understanding of cultural responses through speaking to experts: determine what is expected from adults in support roles in their culture. Attempt to provide this (e.g., they may need you to sit with them while they pray or they may want assistance in taking action).
• Consult and collaborate with individuals considered key to the culture (e.g., in a Latino immigrant population, it may be appropriate to provide support services in conjunction with the local Catholic church).
• Some groups may distrust the school and refuse to seek support services on site. Provide familial support services in alternative locations (e.g., be willing to visit homes or, if there is a local community center popular for certain groups, find counselors that can provide support at those locations).
• Collaborate with professionals that already provide services to those populations (e.g., invite into the schools area-wide community counseling professionals that offer language and culture-appropriate services).
• Reach out to isolated groups through public service announcements on local television channels and radio stations, providing language-appropriate information regarding the crisis and area coping resources.
• Be aware of repercussions regarding the crisis upon specific populations. For example, following the terrorist attack on 9/11, there was an elevated risk of violence against individuals who appeared Middle Eastern. Help keep youth safe from displaced grief or anger.

What Parents Can Do

Children respond and cope well to crisis when the parents are able to respond and cope well. In a time of crisis, the initial task is to assure safety. Find ways to feel safe and help your child feel safe (if you can’t guarantee fully that they will be safe, do not lie, but tell them you will do everything in your power to keep them safe).

Additional Suggestions

• Allow yourself time and space to react to the event away from the children (e.g., crying, grieving, rage). Never use children, even teenagers, as a support.
• Limit media exposure: television images and radio discussions can be frightening.
• Explain the event in an age-appropriate way; don’t overwhelm them with information they cannot handle, don’t give false reassurance. Use honest, simple language with young children (e.g., do not use confusing language such as, “he went to sleep”).
• Allow children to talk about the event or encourage emotional expression via play, writing, or art. Painful emotions should not be denied or buried.
• Allow them to discuss the event, and their fears, numerous times.
• Spend extra time together. Your presence is key.
• Encourage children to help around the home and on projects—they’ll feel more in control when they can help. Maintain a normal routine as much as possible.
• Do something together to alleviate a sense of helplessness (e.g., collect or make food for family members of the victims, offer your family’s assistance or get politically active).
• Be aware that traumatic events may intensify children’s symptoms of other issues, such as ADD, behavioral disorders, eating disorders, major depression, etc.
• Look for signs of post traumatic stress disorder (prolonged trauma responses). Signs include long-term sleep disturbances, disturbing memories/dreams or flashbacks, pessimism about the future, expectations of early death, behavioral reenactment (expressed in play), diminished interest in activities, physical symptoms such as stomachaches or headaches, feeling constantly on guard, nervous, or jumpy. If these symptoms persist over time, seek professional assistance.
• Discuss with your child about what you will do if another disaster strikes. Prepare and plan together for future disasters.
• Be patient: it takes time for children to come to terms with difficult events. Each child’s reaction and recovery will be unique.
• Model healthy coping skills. Avoid using drugs/alcohol. Sleep well, exercise, and seek support from the school counselor, someone from your house of worship or other professionals.

Resources

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org

National Crisis Hotlines

http://www.allaboutcounseling.com/crisis_hotlines.htm

Child Survivors of Trauma

http://users.umassmed.edu/kenneth.fletcher/kidsurv.htm

Support for young children

http://www.zerotothree.org

References

Gysbers, N. & Henderson, P. (2000). Developing and managing your school guidance program (3^rd Ed.). Alexandria: VA, American Counseling Association.