Crisis Intervention in Schools

Crisis Intervention in Schools

End Notes

In the United States setting up of secured educational institutions is presently considered to be a matter of great concern. The issue of security has become so crucial that it has been strived to be achieved even at the cost of gaining knowledge. The knowledge is attainable only when the educational institutions are considered as secured. Varied tragedies are anticipated everyday in the educational institutions that influence the students adversely. The interference against such tragedies is considered as the first treatment of the psychological development of children. Natural calamities, hostility, bereavement, abuse of armaments, mishaps, threats for committing suicides are considered to be disasters that interfere in schooling process. Attending school by a student or teacher having grief over the sad demise of one's own relation or even of one's pet is common in the school working days. It is found to be great trouble to cope with the daily schedule under such traumatic conditions. Such instances necessitate immediate treatment.1

Discussion:

Etymologically the meaning of crisis is traced to two Chinese words-'wei' referring to a disastrous condition and another 'ji' meaning chance of alteration. These two words in conjunction take the word 'crisis' to indicate a disastrous condition that is capable of being changed. 2 According to Caplan 'crisis' is used to describe the danger to the stable state of mind. At the occurrence of crisis, a disequilibrium state arises giving rise to confusion and inefficiency this state of affairs lasting for four to six weeks. 3 Theories on crisis has been propounded by analyzing the crisis in grief and have been inherited from the branch of psychoanalytic theory and ego psychology laying emphasis on the capability of the man to grow with learning. Handling of crisis involves three elements. They are observation of crisis as the result of an uncontrollable circumstance, identification of the involved students or groups in the crisis, and finally the intervener providing assistance to the victims. The prerequisite of the crisis management or intervention is assistance to the victimized students in order to enable them adjust to the circumstances prior to occurrence of any physical or mental damage. The situation of non-flexibility on the part of the students to adjust to the critical situation may result in occurrence of another crisis. 4

It has been observed that a traumatic incident cannot be said to comprise a crisis, instead the magnitude of the crisis depends upon the reaction and vision of the student to it. Crisis is seen as a result of the student's psychological imbalance occurring when the victimized student views it as considerably frightening and finds himself with no capacity to adjust to the situation without having any other way out. The incident or crisis is classified as eventual or circumstantial. Eventual crisis is viewed as inevitable with the foreseeable transformation of usual biological growth, like entry into the stage of adolescence. The circumstantial crisis is viewed as expected follow up of an incident like divorce or accidental occurrence, or as a result of unforeseeable incidents like sudden demise or natural calamity etc. Whatever may be the cause, a significant alteration in the conditions prevailing are perceived along with loss of something creating critical psychological imbalance in response. 5

The state of anxiousness, vulnerability, horror, insufficiency, protest and incompetence give rise to mental imbalance. At such circumstances the victim is noticed to be amenable to the external help, and thereby allowing a chance for behavioral modifications and being back to normalization. Indications and implications other then mental imbalance may also create additional trouble to the victims encountering crisis. Body indications like rapid alterations in health conditions, vitality and activeness, eating and sleeping habits are anticipated to create further troubles. Enhanced anxiety, exhaustion, modified dispositions like outrageousness, depression are emotional indications of crisis-victimized students. Absentmindedness, lack of capability to contemplate, social exclusion is some of the behavioral indication of the students under crisis. The character and magnitude of emotional response differ from student to student. The response of the children to the crisis depends upon their prior familiarity, their nature and behavior, and closeness of the incident to their own existence. However some generalization reactions of the staff and students to the interventions by the crisis are observed. 6 To sum up the crisis can be viewed as the pessimistic reaction of the student to the circumstances.

A sudden demise of an admired student or teaching staff in an accident or any other disaster calls forth interference of the instructors with positive attitudes. However, their inefficient management of the crisis results in behavioral disequilibrium with enduring impression of the incident in their minds. The initial one to two days of the occurrence of the distressing event is known as the shock phase. At this moment the entire school society is awfully delicate and susceptible and any attempt for solution is futile. Security becomes the significant concern. It is seen that the weak crisis management capability in the school puts restraint or lingers the process of coming back to normalcy. Regrettably, the organizational flaws often stand on the way of exercising appropriate crisis management methods. 7

Handling the general flaw efforts on the part of the top-notch of the school strives to bring a progress in the methods of tackling the awful conditions by themselves and the staff. There are established guidelines containing tenuous and complex instructions and procedures of crisis management or intervention. The crisis intervention necessitates extremely urgent action with out adherence to detailed administrative procedures. In case the crisis is the result of the incident influencing a mass of students or teaching member of the school the students necessitate immediate emotional assistance. Students at High School levels can congregate themselves in a common place such as guidance suits, administrative halls or in front of the entrance. At the moment of such indiscipline, any effort with regard to crisis management is complex. A pragmatic remedy to this is prior constitution of guidance centers. 8

Efforts are to be made for assistance of the victimized student and staff in classrooms, libraries, conference rooms and administrative offices in the school campus. At times when it is felt that the crisis management necessitates group intervention, the assistance can be offered in classrooms, faculty meetings and assemblies. The space of the earmarked room for the purpose is to be taken into consideration in order to accommodate different size of groups such as offices, accommodating one to five students and the conference room that can accommodate six to twelve students. The flaws in such pre-arrangements results in failure of the crisis management efforts. Communication of the incident to the entire school community is essential in the event of a critical situation. Unsuccessful communication of the incident in a sympathetic manner to the school community results in further crisis. 9

The school administration is viewed as insensible and unresponsive. This makes the students violent and deserves to be tackled in consultation meetings. As a result of this much energy is being wasted in pacifying violence than actually managing the crisis. It is not necessary that the school authorities are required to keep the incidents secret from public so long as a normalcy is not established. Simultaneously, the dissemination of the information available with regard to the crisis honestly is considered fruitful. Significance of this is viewed at an event concerning wide coverage of the school community and that has already attracted the attention of press. Postponement of honest articulation of the situations give rise to injurious suppositions and false rumors about the crisis. Students at High School level normally try to come out of the campus in an event of crisis to handle and would try to solve the situation utilizing their own means. This gives rise to two universal problems. Going out of the campus denies them of the most fundamental means of the emotional support to the crisis that is made available to them inside the school campus in the form of trained personnel for the purpose. 10

Secondly, premature departure from school campus puts themselves at the risk of harmful practices such as drub abuse, alcoholism etc. In response to adjusting to the disastrous event. A deliberation on crisis management or inetvention within the school campus among the counselors at the beginning of the crisis bears fruit while delivering the real services. In such meetings plans are to be chalked out, along with an estimation of the effects of crisis and formulation of contingency plans and deliberation on various important angles of crisis should take place. It is also worthwhile to have a review of the situation at the end of the daily routine. Psychological concerns, disappointments, critical situations of the personnel involved in crisis management should be taken into consideration during the discussions and evaluations of the procedures adopted in mitigation of the crisis are to be made. 11

The Journal of the American Medical Association, has reported a research study in contradiction to the general speculations, about a decreasing trend of the deaths caused out of aggression related to schools. The conception is considered as a biased one in view of the facts of increasing trend of incidents involving a couple of death as that of at Columbine. The statistics depicting about threefold increase in the suicide among youths since 1950 constituted the third prominent cause of death of the age group 10-19. The rate of suicide among high school students even though remained stable during the last decade, substantial increase of that among the middle school students of the age group of 10-14 depicting 100% increase during the period matters much to the educators. 12

Commitment of suicide by a couple of students at Dixie Hollins High School in Pinellas County, Florida, reports concerning threats of suicide increased substantially. The school authorities resorted to establishment of a suicide crisis intervention team in order to address the issue. Two Assistant Principals, two Counselors, the Resources Officer of the School having graduate degrees are also included into the team. Association of Dallas Public School with the Community Oriented Primary Care Division of Parkland Health and Hospital System and with the Adolescent Services Division of the Dallas Mental Health Mental Retardation Agency in 1955 resulted in the institutionalization of nine Youth and Family Centers associated with Schools. The Federal Title XI Funds were utilized for harmonization of the services and to meet the administrative expenses and payments for infrastructure costs while it was the community agencies that recruited the necessary staffs for the purpose. Such association enabled provision of extensive range of services to students and their families inclusive of medical care, mental health counseling, and contingent crisis management, follow ups in post schooling periods, adult motivation and the like. The centers also devote a couple of days in a week for psychiatric assessment of the victims. 13

During the year of inception itself the student users of the provision of service increased to 3400, taking advantages physical health visits to the tune of 3686 numbers, mental health visits of 2677 numbers and support services visits of 1485 numbers. The services of Guidance Departments, Student Assistance Counselors and the Child Study Team were utilized by Frelinghuysen and Morristown High School in extending the services of Counseling and crisis intervention. The responsibility of college and career counseling in the post schooling period was also entrusted to the Guidance Department of Morristown High School. At times of contingencies pertaining to severe mental ailments of the students or staff of the District, intervening counseling and guidance are provided by the external agencies. In case of unexpected occurrence of accidental violent death provision of assistance by the Counselors of Morristown Memorial Hospital and other agencies are extended. Provision of assistance on necessary follow ups are also made available to the victimized students and families succumbed to the critical incident.14

Differing orders of events with the victims takes place at the critical conditions depending upon the call of the situations and some times simultaneous occurrence of the several steps together is noticed. Most commonly, students are noticed to display the indications of tension like the adults in response to the psychological reactions to the loss suffered out of the disastrous event. Even though such tensions can not be totally evaded, however means exist for minimization of the magnitude of the influence of the crisis on the victimized students and teachers with providing assistance on adjusting to the changing circumstances. Varied indications occur with the advancement in the age and maturity of the child. Taking all these factors into consideration, emphasis should be made on the security and in pursuit of the wider objectives of the students.15

The teachers are expected to assume the responsibility of leadership at the time of crisis as well as during the post crisis situation. Most of the times of the students are spent with their involvement and their knowledge of overall activities of the students is much more than any one else in the campus. Teachers are therefore resting in a crucial juncture in provision of instant as well as follow up intervention. The teachers especially at times when they themselves are victims of the emotional outbreaks in response the traumatic incident are put in jeopardy of controlling themselves to remain unexposed before the students. The teachers are also considered vulnerable to the crisis and therefore equally subject to the services of assistance, support and intervention. In absence of such services support the teachers are considered to be incapacitated in catering to the needs of their students. 16

Particularly the classroom teachers are more prone to such inadequacies without training of crisis response at a moment of attending to the demands of the victimized students. Two significant responsibilities of teachers are viewed after the occurrence of the crisis. Chalking out of strategies for efficient tackling of the disastrous situation inside the classroom and second to fully realize and adjust to the reactions of the students. The capabilities to discharge the first responsibility can be attained from assistances of other constructive personnel of course implementing them after restructuring in order to suit their own class room conditions. Adjusting with the student reactions necessitates consultations with parents, school psychologists, school counselors, or external mental health personnel. The responsibility of dealing with the reactions of the students in school hours rests with the concerned teachers. 17

It is of utmost importance to choose the suitable remedies to be exercised soon after occurrence of a crisis and to chalk out the plan of action in the following days and weeks for its management. It is possible for the victimized students to recoup from the critical juncture and back to their normalcy with the assistance of the school personnel and family members in due course. They are made to attend to requirements of the circumstances especially, the campus atmosphere. Sometime, the past record of students in response to their own psychological setup and their lack of capability to react to the induced support and the intensity of the traumatic event act together as impediments in effective management of the crisis. Such students necessitate more specific individualized intervention.18

Prolonged continuance of the indications and resulting in intense situations efforts are to be made for seeking advice from the mental health personnel and to discuss about the matter with the parents. Assistance of the community and school healthcare professionals may also be necessitated. Existence of a problem is realized from the symptoms one exhibit and the magnitude of the influence of the crisis on ones circumstance and ones own activity is determined. The program for management of the crisis is considered as a model of delivering direct services. Assistance from the services teams of the school in the post crisis periods essentially flows to the students, to the Schools, to the staff members, to the parents and community members. Engagement of crisis resource teams is considered at situations of considerably higher magnitude of the influence of the crisis. 19

The resource teams engaged in extending direct service, guidance, and sustenance to the school community generally consists of about seven supporting members under a trained leadership. Trainings have been imparted to the psychologists, counselors, social activists, mental health personnel and therapist so as to enable them providing service to the victims of disastrous situations. It is the responsibility of the pre-constituted crisis team of the school to discharge immediately the duty of the crisis management at the occurrence of disastrous events. It should be quickly available for task when the situation warrants. Readiness to face the vulnerabilities and every odd during a crisis is the crucial factor in its management. Constitution of the crisis team well prepared to counter any type of critical situation is therefore crucial from the point-of-view of immediate and positive response to the crisis management. 20

The members of the crisis team devotes in providing assistance to students by directly interfering in the crisis mitigation, probing into the available choices for adjustments, taking advices in this regard from others. The objective of the team is to detect, evaluate and interfere with the methodology for managing crisis so as to restore the mental status of the students to the normalcy at the shorted possible time period along with avoidance of the possibilities for its future adverse influence. New methodology and new expertise in the process are noticed to have attained and explored to manage with the crisis necessitating alterations in the established strategy. Quick detection of the victims by the therapists along with the magnitude of its impact on normal activity is most essential. Only after detection of the disastrous condition and the victimized person to it the team is able to evaluate the magnitude of the influence of the crisis on the students. 21

The interview is the common methodology for the purpose during which the worker endeavors to assure an environment of reception, sustenance and confidence in the future. Interactions with the victimized student are considered as crucial. This often allows establishment of eye contact as well as physical contact. The questionnaire for the purpose is so prepared as to reveal the discernment of the student to the problem, the order and magnitude of occurrence of the incidents, the emotional feelings, and the record of attempts to handle the problem. Explicit choices and questions are included to evaluate the capability of the students to interact, since it is anticipated that the victim is often incapable of revealing his own expressions, to become decisive and able to find solutions. The non-verbal body languages such as facial expressions, posture, movement, behavior are taken into consideration along with the verbal expressions while evaluating the situations. 22

The assessment of the present security along with any threat of life to the victim or to others constitutes an integral part of such evaluation. Detection of association with alcoholism, drug abuse, present level of tension and emotional impacts like disappointments are to be made to supplement. The management of crisis begins only after such detection and evaluation of the crisis. The professionals differ in the implementation of the number and sequence of steps for interventions. However, some unanimously are visualized as fundamental for an effective crisis management strategy. First of all in the process of counseling the victimized student it is the duty of the worker to give scope for fullest possible expression the emotional feelings giving no room for implications and assumptions. The worker must strive to get answers to each of questions in order to clearly reveal out the feelings and vision of the student to the incident and involvement of any social and cultural elements in the incident. A broad structure of the problem is created through this second step. 23