Tennessee Schools PREPARE

Tennessee Schools PREPARERene Love DNP, PMHCNS/NP-BCTPA ConferenceNovember 201212

TennesseeOver 13 year period, 13 high profile community disasters including school shootings

March 2005 Cumberland City, Tennessee- 14 year old shot and killed school bus driver as she was carrying a bus of approximately 24 students

August 2005- Maury Middle School in Jefferson County- student is accidentally shot and wounded by a gun brought to school

November 2005- Campbell County Comprehensive High School in Jacksboro, Tennessee- a freshman student shot the school principal and two assistant principals- one of the assistant principals died as a result

3Partnerships Established2005Support for this project provided in part with funding from the USDOE, Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Program and funding from the Vanderbilt Community Mental Health Center

Collaboration for this project occurs between the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing and the Tennessee Department of Education

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Literature Review 2006Conducted in 2006 of evidenced based practices, evidenced informed practices and expert consensus models utilizing PubMed, Cochrane, and Google Scholar5

National Educational PolicyTeachers and school administrators can play a major role in the immediate recovery process by providing specific structured and semi-structured activities (NIMH, 2006)

A coordinated response in the school community facilitates the healing process when responding to traumatic events, (United States Department of Education, 2006)

Critical Need for emergency management planning to include recovery as a part of its process in the school based plan prior to an incident (USDOE, 2006)

6Like it or notThe reach of schools extends far beyond the borders of the classroom and contemporary schools play a critical role in the life of their communities

Parents and others responsible for children often look to schools to keep children safe and to provide direction about how best to support them, especially in times of crisis

Community Assessment Focus Groups - 2007

Schools that had experienced a school shooting

Urban Schools

Stakeholders8Tennessee Response

Tennessee Schools PREPAREP roviding SupportR eachingE ducatorsP arents/StudentsA ndR estoring community withE ffective interventions

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MissionTennessee Schools PREPARE is a program designed to develop and then disseminate information to school districts that will assist all schools in advancing and maturing the response and recovery portion of their emergency management plan. TSP is an ongoing dialogue with all stakeholders, an ecological process enabling Tennessee schools to respond to crises with effective, best practice interventions.Cobb, Love, Margolis, 2009Program GoalsTennessee schools will be prepared to offer students, staff, educators and parents immediate and effective assistance in the aftermath of a school crisis, with the goal of mitigating long term emotional suffering of survivors

Crisis response plans will be realistic, useful, and accessible at the time of the emergency

Tennessee school personnel will be empowered to train and develop crisis response team. (In house expertise)11Workshop FormatLectureVideosManualsGroup Discussion12Lecture/ManualLeadership before a crisisWhat is in a postvention planRestoring Community- First Day Back to SchoolCounseling SkillsTypical Trauma ReactionBuilding Resilience13 Leadership BEFORE a CrisisDistrict Postvention teamSchool Postvention teamPrincipalVice PrincipalSafety OfficerCounselors, social workers, psychologistsSchool nurseSchool secretaryOther faculty or staff(teachers, janitor cafeteria worker)14o15

These are all professionals volunteering to help your students. Who do you trust? Updated and Realistic Plan

A live contact list must be kept bedside and in their car at all times

Complete after hours telephone chain including numbers of district personnel and community support agencies16Faculty/Staff Issues Must Be AddressedTeachers Should Not Be Expected To Handle Distraught Children Without Adequate Help For Themselves !!

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What is in a Postvention Crisis Plan?Complete after hours telephone chain including numbers of district personnel and community support agencies. (as mentioned above)Identification of Crisis team members.Identification of regional or district crisis team.Major crises may traumatize the in house Postvention team district personnel should be available to help with such emergencies. Identification of a Media Liaison Person Identification of a Family Liaison PersonTo offer support to the effected family or familiesTo liaison regarding funeral and memorial activitiesTo help the family gather students personal belongings in the event of a deathTo offer referrals as requestedSuggestions for informing students of unexpected loss of life (fellow students, faculty, or staff)Suggestions for how to handle classroom discussions regarding the tragedy. Identification of a crisis center location with a telephone, manned all day by a member of the crisis team

CrisisManualIdentification of rooms to be set aside for individual and group counselingA plan for calling in substitute teachers, and/or a plan to relieve teachers who will need additional time to grieve/debrief.In the event of a student death, a plan to have counselors follow the students schedule to provide extra support in those classrooms.

In the event of a student death, suggestions for how staff can best deal with the empty desk, empty locker phenomenon.Helpful suggestion principal to bring (or request crisis team member bring) individual flower stems to school, students can have an in class ritual of putting flowers on deceased students desk, later they can be brought to family. (Also students can make paper flowers for a wreath for the locker, create a memory book for the family, cards for the family etc.)

Formulation of school policy on Funerals and In School memorialsEach school needs to set a policy on funeral attendanceStudents and faculty may want to memorialize the death in some way on school premises. This may include rituals such as a moment of silence, planting a tree, dedicating a game or event in the persons memory etc. The policy on in school memorials can be developed with student leaders ideas to be considered include flying flag at half mass, year book memorials, special events dedicated to deceased student etc.Have consistency across situations where there is loss of life so as to not hurt or offend families

Some Postvention plans will include sample letters that can be sent out to parents, other principals will prefer to run all communication through the media liaison and the district media consultant.Postvention plans should articulate the need for before and after school all staff meetings. (if the nature of the crisis effects the whole school)

Principals should require the staff to participate in these meetings because typically the most traumatized individuals will not seek out help

Teachers and staff closest to the tragedy should be grouped separately and offered critical incident debriefing. For example, if one grade level is particularly effected, that grade level team should be given the opportunity to meet separately before school with a counselor or outside professional working specifically with them.Ongoing Program DesignFour hour training

District ConsultationAll day training/consultationAbbreviated training to target audience

Telephone ConsultationFacilitate development of postvention planDevelop scope of postvention response after a traumatic incident

Emergency AssistanceIn personBy telephone

24Program SummaryApproximately 4 years into project Trained approximately 3000 educators

A mental health representative attended each original regional trainings

Identified train the trainers across the state

Aligned to requirements of Schools Against Violence- ACT (SAVE-ACT)

25Development of a Website www.tnschoolsprepare.com

Target training to districts that commit to having their leadership attend the training

Improve ability to get information to administration in rural locations by using mailed flyers in addition to email

26Recent Program Innovations27

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Lessons LearnedImportance of Partnership between mental health and state department

Importance of Focus groups for feedback and buy-in

Development of a manual is time intensive

Limitations of delivering content within time constraints29Contact information

Rene Love DNP, PMHCNS/NP-BCRene.love@vanderbilt.edu

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