Crisis Team Research APRIL WICKLINE

Threat Assessment Plan: ESD 112 Mission: ‘To provide a comprehensive, multidimensional system to assist schools in addressing students who pose a threat for committing acts of violence and to provide these students with options for intervention’

Program Goals and Objectives Goals Keep students who are at risk from committing violent acts in school. Help protect other students and staff members from potential violence. Provide a comprehensive, multidimensional tool for schools to assess students who may pose a threat. Provide a student-specific safety plan utilizing community resources to mitigate the threat of violence. Standardize the process for addressing students who pose a threat in schools that participate in student threat assessment. Involve parents in the threat assessment process. Document the program’s effectiveness in dealing with students who make threats of violence, including student academic and behavioral success. Work in collaboration with community partners to coordinate resources for the safety and well being of youth, families and communities. Objectives Assess threats of potentially harmful or lethal behavior and determine the level of concern and action required. Organize resources and strategies to manage situations involving students that pose threats to other students and/or staff. Maintain a sense of psychological safety among our students, teachers and parents Reduce the number of expulsions for students who can be maintained safely in the school environment.

Evidence Supporting Threat Assessment Models Brief History of Threat Assessment After the Columbine school shooting the secret service collaborated with the Department of Education to design and conduct the Safe School Initiative, an operational analysis of assassins and attackers conducted in the Exceptional Case Study Project. Using the findings of this study the secret service and the Department of Education created the school threat assessment model, a version of the Secret Service protective intelligence/threat assessment model for use in K-12 education. A 2009 study of schools with different threat assessment models reported that the schools with a comprehensive threat assessment model known as the ‘Virginia threat assessment model’ reported: ◦Fewer long term suspensions ◦Students were more likely to report they felt school staff cared about them and were treated with respect ◦A more positive school climate with less teasing and bullying

Crisis Response : An Invitational Approach There may be a need to reassess the way in which school counselors and school psychologists respond to critical incidents in schools. ◦A study published in 2011 explained that an invitational approach may be a better debriefing approach than one that is expected for everyone to attend and is a one size fits all. ◦The study mentioned the importance of adopting the specific activities of each of the multiple intelligences. ◦Verbal/ Linguistic intelligence: verbal therapy, expressive writing, journaling, etc. ◦Logical/ Mathematical intelligence: asking students to quantify their feelings and then use a graphing tool to monitor over the next few days/weeks. ◦Musical/ Rhythmical intelligence: providing different instruments, providing pre-recorded soundtrack vignettes and asking the students to draw while they listen and express what they feel.

Key components of a Crisis Response Reunification: students typically reunited with parents at an off-site location where police and medical personnel attend to the immediate needs of students, staff and community. ◦Transportation, roster of students, logs for documenting times and to whom students were released, written material (informational flyers including mental health support available, typical crisis reactions, emergency contact information, etc.) Safe Haven: it is critical to re-establish naturally occurring social support for the healing process, providing a location where community members are invited to grieve like a nearby school or church reaffirms safety and security. ◦Must be staffed with adequate numbers of mental health responders, parent and student attendance should be tracked and recorded to identify families receiving support and any need for follow-up for those who attend.

Crisis Response: Mental Health The NOVA model is a tool used to response planning which include three tasks: safety and security, ventilation and validation, and prediction and preparation. Triage: developing plan for how triage will be set up is a critical part of effective crisis response. ◦Its important to identify the students, parents, and staff who are most impacted and in need of immediate crisis management. ◦Triage for general schools works well if mental health crisis responders great and escort everyone upon entry of the safe haven and escort them to triage rooms as appropriate. This helps provide immediate attention to those who are clearly distressed and in need of help. ◦Triage is a dynamic and ongoing process, not an event.

Crisis Response: Mental Health Mental Health Supports ◦Students with similar crisis experiences often request support as a group. Providing small psychoeducational groups should be offered as an option. ◦Setting up tables and with art supplies in this area allows students to create banners and signs in support for their community and affected individuals. ◦Stationing floating crisis responders in all areas is vital as some students and parents will not directly request intervention but will want to share. The easier the access the support, the more likely people will take advantage of it.

Crisis Response: Food Keeping in mind the safety and security issues and the importance of meeting basic needs, arrangements should be made that bring food into the safe haven as well as the school the day of reopening. ◦Considerations include: identifying who purchase or donate, pickup or delivery, location, serving and cleanup. ◦Often times school/ administrative staff will initiate and handle this process though the mental health team may need to emphasize how important it is. ◦Cafeteria and custodial staff can assist in the set up and clean up of. ◦This provides a way for classified school personnel to be involved in the healing process.

Crisis Response: Handouts Handouts including information on resources, common reactions to crisis, and coping should be provided at the safe haven and the school when it reopens. ◦Crisis Response Teams should have premade or editable versions that can be modified to fit a specific community. ◦Handouts should also be in the languages used in the community because translation can take some time, having easy access to information is inclusive for everyone involved.

Crisis Response: Communication CRT members should be in constant communication with each other in this process, if there is no cell service, a more creative means of communication may need to be considered like walkie- talkies. One member of the CRT should be responsible for all communications with the public. ◦This person should be in contact with the district public information officer and contribute to crafting the information shared with the general public, as well as how it is disseminated. ◦A letter must be written specifically for parents of children attending the school where the crisis occurred including support services available, where support can be accessed, community resources, and emergency contact information. ◦This type of information sharing can be very empowering and foster healing.