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What to do When Tragedy Strikes Your School

Tragedies happen in schools every day, but the bell still rings and teachers must do what they can for their students. Teachers must also help the students ponder why these things happen.

 

Focus on the Classroom

1. Teachers must honestly acknowledge their own emotions

2. Teachers must give students permission to show a range of emotions

3. Teachers must allow students to vent without consequences

 

Too Many Missed Opportunities

1. Set aside curriculum needs and be there for your students.

2. The biggest mistake made by many schools is to minimize the initial and long term impact the tragedy may have on students.

3. The events that may lead to losing a student(s) can help establish a platform to base prevention and education on.

• Depression

• Suicide

• Drugs

• Drinking

• Car accidents

• Murder

• Kidnapping

 

How to Manage Emotionally

The manner in which a school staff handles a crisis or death directly relates to how well students cope which is why it's important to be aware of how your emotions are affecting your students in the aftermath of a tragedy.

 

So what can we do?!

1. Do not underestimate the impact of the death

2. Offer emotional assistance quickly, the faster it is offered, the better the adjustment

3. Provide faculty a chance to process first. Make it mandatory.

4. Schedule a meeting for parents.

5. Share as many FACTS as possible

6. Provide opportunities for students and faculty to talk about their emotions

7. Recognize there are long term implications

8. Set aside curriculum and postpone tests if needed.

 

Estimate Degree of Trauma after Death

Questions to ask:

1. Who was the deceased?

2. What happened to the deceased?

3. Where did the death occur?

4. Have other crises or occurrences impacted the school?

5. Who was the perpetrator?

 

Other Information

1. STICK TO THE FACTS! Don't go with rumors.

2. Talk to your school's crisis team, social workers, school psychologists, etc. about ways that your students may react to the traumatic news.

3. If you are not allowed to talk to the students about the situation, defer to counselors.

4. Don't be afraid of asking for help if you're uncomfortable talking to students.

5. It is OK for teachers to cry, but not to be hysterical.

6. Not handling the grief well in front of the students is worse for the children.

7. Teachers need to be honest about their feelings and about what happened.

8. For children especially, say the individual has died, using the euphemism "they're sleeping now" or "they're sleeping in heaven" can cause children to think they are hibernating.

 

Distinguishing Crisis and Trauma

1. Crisis: an event, experience, or condition that leads to danger or the potential for danger

2. Trauma: the result of an individual's reaction to adversity or stress.

3. A crisis or stressful experience does not always lead to trauma.

4. Crises alone do not cover the things that can lead to trauma.

   1. I.e. chronic maltreatment or exposure to community violence

 

Factors Impacting Response to Adverse Experiences

1. Individual Factors

   1. Previous experience

   2. Developmental level

   3. Poverty level

   4. Parental substance use or mental illness

   5. Presence of a disability

   6. Community characteristics

2. Experience Factors

   1. Physical proximity

   2. Severity

   3. Availability of social support

   4. Availability and quality of intervention services

   5. Presence of stigma (e.g. sexual abuse, depression)

   6. Chronic or acute

   7. Interpersonal or non-interpersonal

 

In any situation, be a support for your students, and help them to grieve. You have a responsibility to be there for your students, but also you have the responsibility to take care of yourself. The resources a school provides are for more than your students, they are there for your use as well. If you can demonstrate a good example of managing your emotions and grief, your students are more likely to seek your support. No one wishes to see a tragedy strike their school, but being prepared for one is the first step in addressing the aftermath.

 

For more information on how to help students cope with tragedy, visit:

EducationWorld: The Educator's Best Friend

When Tragedy Strikes: What Schools Should Do

http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin198.shtml

 

The National Association of School Psychologists

Times of Tragedy: Preventing Suicide in Troubled Children and Youth

http://www.nasponline.org/resources/crisis_safety/suicidept1_general.aspx