Managing Crisis NOW

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Managing Crisis NOW

• Keeping abreast of change.
• Jennifer Goddard
• HOD Guidance
• St Cuthberts College
• Auckland.

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Shock. Trauma. Grief.

• Out of the ordinary. Something disturbs the
  natural order. Normal life suddenly comes to a
  halt.
• We respond instantaneously. Physiological.
  Profound. We respond, NOT - we think about
  responding.
• We decide in an instant the DEGREE of shock or
  trauma. (Martha Oates).

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Grief.
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Shock. Trauma.
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Grief and Trauma Grief responses include

• Feelings shock, denial/disbelief, anger,
  sadness, fatigue, guilt.
• Physiological responses sleep and appetite
  disturbances, tightness in chest/throat,
  hollowness in stomach, sense of
  depersonalisation/disembodiment.
• Cognitions confusion, disbelief, preoccupation,
  loss of meaning.
• Behaviours social withdrawal, avoidance of
  duties, disorganised behaviour, dreams,
  crying/tearfulness, avoidance of reminders OR
  preoccupation with remembering.
• No time line on this. Continuing Bonds

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A Traumatic Event

• The person has been exposed to an event in which
  both the following were present
• 1. The person experienced, witnessed or was
  confronted with an event that involved actual or
  threatened death or serious injury, or a threat
  to the physical integrity of self or others.
• 2. The persons response involved intense fear,
  helplessness or horror (agitation in children).
• Post-trauma task To make sense of/ meaning of
  such event/s. Eg. Holocaust stories. Compare our
  own experience.

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Grief and TraumaTrauma responses include

• 3 symptom clusters
• 1. Re-experiencing recurrent and intrusive
  recollections of the event, dreams, flashbacks,
  distress at reminders, and physiological
  reactivity to associated cues.
• 2. Avoidance of associated stimuli and numbing of
  general responsiveness actual avoidance of
  people and places, thoughts and feelings
  Inabilit to recall aspects of the trauma,
  Diminished interest or participation in
  activities, feelings of detachment, restricted
  affect and loss of meaning/sense of a
  foreshortened future.
• 3. Hyper-arousal sleep disturbances,
  irritability or outbursts of anger, difficulty
  concentrating, hypervigilance, exaggerated
  startle response.
• This becomes PTSD when
• A) the symptoms last for more than a month
• B) the disturbance caues clinically significant
  distress or impairment in social occupational or
  other important areas of functioning.
• This has profound implications for studetns in
  schools in terms of social and academic progress,
• and for teachers in loss of enjoyment in their
  job and impairment of personal functioning in all
  apsects of their lives.

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Examples

• Public. President Kennedy. John Lennon. Princess
  Diana. Conspiracy theories arise because we
  cannot accept the death/tragedy. Constantly
  revisit it Eg. Al Fayed.
• Local. Erebus. Aramoana.
• International. Twin Towers. Locherbie. Dunblane.
• Revisiting stretches to enquiries, documentaries,
  films.
• Schools. Many examples. A.G.S. Think of specific
  examples.
• General People dont forget, hence the
  importance of a timely and appropriate response.

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What we DO is important.

• Using the Withdrawal Room. Have a plan in mind.
  Formal announcement time to cry. Regular
  respectful and accurate updates.
• Appropriate events or rituals. Doing nothing is
  not an option. (School X fear of copycatting
  prevented an adequate and safe response). We
  cannot count on Church or community.
• Roles. The Principal is a key figure. Nothing
  matters to a family more than being
  visited/attended to by the MOST important person
  in the school. This is because to them the MOST
  important event has occurred. Nothing else will
  do.
• HOW we do things sends the keenest of messages to
  the rest of our school community.
• They need to hear, We care, we are competent, we
  will look after you, you are the most important
  people in the world to us. This is how we would
  value you and your life. You are unique and
  special to us.

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Our Recent Work.Changes in how we must respond

• Time. Because of the electronic media there is no
  time to plan. We must be ready and flexible.
  Consult immediately.
• Expectations. Post stiff upper lip era.
  Everyone expects a competent response which is
  knowledgeable about human emotions and processes.
• Information will come at you from everywhere. You
  need to know how to sort the grain from the
  chaff. Work with the Professionals. Police.
  Accurate information.
• Manner. Walk slowly, talk softly. At all times
  model calm competence. Share rationale. We dont
  know the answer to that yet but we will find out
  and come back to tell you.

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Youth Culture What is different?

• Combination of early socialising with alcohol,
  drugs, music, promiscuity put young people
  greatly at risk. Getting out of it.
• Mis-match Prof Peter Gluckman. Old bodies,
  young brains.
• Alienated youth. Angry and marginalised.
  Under-parented, so poor grasp of consequences. If
  they are not at home and not in school they are
  like time bombs. Absence systems vital at
  schools.
• Cross-culture socialisation. The nicest girl
  can be hooked up with the meanest thug. Kids who
  have been brought up with conventional behaviour
  mixing with those who are unpredictable and do
  not subscribe to the same standards of behaviour.
• Popularity and universality of American street
  culture. It has come out of a particular context
  but is widely applied. The alienation and anger
  that goes with it are taken on as well.
• Parenting.Many parents have given up or are
  overly liberal. Poor supervision.
• Lack of a universal ethical/moral basis for
  society. Many kids are amoral.
• Kahunui experiment. What does this tell us?

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Youth Culture. What else?

• Mobility. Cars and communication.
• Speed of communication. Phones, msn, bebo etc.
• This creates a continuous population of young
  people across all groups, all schools. No escape.
  Any tragedy many schools affected.
• Parties and other gatherings can have huge
  numbers, people who are unknown to each other.
  Misunderstandings arise easily. Allies arrive to
  support quarreling groups or individuals.
• Eg. Drive-over accidents. Revenge attacks.
  Turn-ups outside schools.
• Victim and perpetrator might be known to each
  other/other group members.

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What are they thinking?

• No respite from emotional chatter. Quarrels
  dont stop at the school gate. No chance to
  disengage, cool down, and reflect.
• Sleep? Phones, TVs and computers in bedrooms.
  Need 9.5 hours sleep!
• Family monitoring is gone. Dont overhear phone
  conversations, see friends arrive at the front
  door. (Net friends)
• Addicted to gossip? Constant engagement with
  social interactions fuelled by Reality Shows, and
  reporting of Stars personal lives no
  boundaries.This crowds out more objective and
  less emotional thinking.
• Impulsivity. The instant society. Computers
  have influenced this, and the speed of
  technology. Eg. Road rage.

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Our response has to change too..

• Speed. We must be prepared to start immediately.
  This implies that we must be prepared.
• Knowledge, expertise, understanding of what
  happens in such situations.
• IT savvy. Either that or immediately consult
  students or IT personnel.
• Go to the source as soon as possible to avoid
  rumour, to show respect.
• Spread the net widely. Which other schools are
  affected?

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Supporting ourselves

• Crisis is profound for counsellors. Why?
• Reach out. Who has had a similar experience? Eg.
  Avondale.
• Have your networks ready. Working with other
  counsellors. Need to have put in the footwork
  first. Know each other and each others work.
• Relationships within schools. Who can help? Other
  cultures? Other groups/ individuals? Eg. Parents.
• The most affected are not at school. Where are
  they? Are they safe?
• S.E.S. service now moribund.

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Its not counselling.

• Its management. Preparedness. Thoroughness.
  Lists. Rolls. Resource box.
• Normal functioning is suspended.
• Its OK to be directive.
• Crisis implies that events are out of control.
  Its important to reassure people. We know what
  we are doing.
• Schools are it. We cannot wait for other
  organisations/ people to respond. We need to move
  quickly to keep our students safe.
• We must care for the survivors. This sometimes
  forgotten in our concern for the deceased.
  Letters of support for counsellors at AGS.

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Heres to..

• Working together as colleagues
• Caring for our school communities
• Caring for each other.
• Reference
• Goddard J.A, McKain T. et al. Responding to
  Crisis A Team Approach. In Counselling Today
  Newsletter of the NZAC, June 2008, Vol 28 No 4
• jenniferg_at_stcuthberts.school.nz