Mental Health During A School Crisis

School safety expert Sonayia Shepherd examines traumatic stress after a crisis, and the role of the school crisis intervention team in accounting for the emotional safety of children.

DISCUSSION
Sonayia Shepherd
School Safety Analyst
Safe Havens International

What is a school crisis intervention team?

A school crisis intervention team is a team made up of school mental health, law enforcement, school administrators, teachers as well as parents and students sometimes. It's a team that, after a crisis is assembled, and accounts for the emotional safety of children, students and staff. What they do is go out and they provide crisis intervention, crisis debriefing; they provide services that really aid the emotional support of students.

What steps should a school take to minimize trauma in a crisis?

Schools should consider things like - especially after a crisis - holding off on the tests. Research shows that students' cognitive reasoning may not be functioning at a hundred percent after an event. So, maybe holding off on that pop quiz. Don't force a regular day on grieving students. For example, what we commonly see - more common than school shootings - is maybe the loss of a student or the loss of a teacher. Intervening, asking the students "What's wrong?", talking to them, and letting them articulate how they're feeling and listening to them. Perhaps helping them move through the grieving process, such as writing letters, maybe doing some type of memorial that's appropriate. Just letting the students be themselves, letting them grieve, and understanding that. Also, reminding students that it is okay to cry, it is okay to show emotion, and support them in that.

What some common responses after a school crisis?

The recovery part of a school disaster is usually the longest part. Commonly we may see students that articulate feelings of suicide. We may see fights going up, we may see rage going up, and this is because anger is a natural part of grieving. Blame often occurs during the recovery phase, simply because after an event, people feel angry and they are grieving and want to blame one another. We often see kids maybe crying and sometimes we may see delayed reactions, sometimes upwards of six weeks after an event. So, it is important to have staff readily available, have staff observing students, have some type of sensitivity training among staff to show them how to be sensitive to the grieving process of students and to also just let staff know that after an event, maybe up to six weeks after an event, that we just need to observe the students. We need to see what type of behavior they are displaying. Talk to the parents, and let the parents know what to look for. Let the parents know behaviors that they are seeing in the students so the parents can intervene as well.

How can a school crisis affect students?

It can affect students greatly, and it can cause depression. It can cause students to start thinking about suicide if the situation is not handled appropriately and if crisis intervention doesn't happen immediate. It can affect their grades. It can affect their self esteem. It can affect how they view others around them, and that's why effective crisis intervention is so important, because if students don't feel like the adults, the school can take care of them, then they have a loss of trust, and a loss of trust can cause students not to even want to come to school.

What are the warning signs of traumatic stress in early age children?

The warning signs of post-traumatic stress, especially in early age kids, are commonly found in depression, regressive behaviour, bedwetting, whining. Kids that don't want their parents to leave, or kids that are anxious - they don't want to be left alone. They are complaining about maybe what we call ‘psychosomatic symptoms,' and stomach aches. They are complaining about headaches, they have physical symptoms. Also, we may find that they might start sucking their thumb again, or they might start biting their fingers again. So, a lot of these behaviours are regressive, and so it's very important that if we see these behaviours, that we do address them early in the behaviour, and don't wait. Don't think that “Oh, it will pass”, because commonly it doesn't. It usually progresses into something worse.

What are the warning signs of traumatic stress in older elementary and middle school students?

In older elementary and middle school students post traumatic stress can come about in a variety of ways. We commonly see a person retelling a story over and over again or having tunnel vision or confused thinking. We also see fatigue, insomnia. Other symptoms can be manifested in physical ways such as stomachaches, such as people saying; "I feel knots in my stomach". The big warnings signs are, after a period of time anything that they are feeling doesn't go away. That is a big teller and we want to decrease that and we don't want someone to develop pos ttraumatic stress disorder. So anything that that person is feeling whether it be a headache, whether it be butterflies in their stomach, it's important to tell a person this should not last, and if it's lasting after six weeks then they need long term mental health care.

What are the signs of post traumatic stress in adolescents?

Post traumatic stress in adolescents is commonly the same as adults and middle school. Retelling the story over and over again, or someone saying they're feeling tense all the time. Temperature deregulation. Either they're extremely hot, or extremely cold; there's nothing in the middle. Manic signs, where a person's mood changes. It's up and then it's down. Other signs can be giving their possessions away, which are signs of suicide. Signs of depression as well. Things that are persistent, that are just not going away. What I usually tell people is that after an event, it's okay to have the butterflies, as long as they are all flying in the same direction. As soon as they start to collide, then maybe we need some long-term help.