Managing emergencies and traumatic incidents

Supporting early childhood education (ECE) services and schools to manage emergencies and traumatic incidents has been an important part of special education service provision since the mid 90s.

Today, the Ministry of Education, Special Education assists ECE services and schools in two main ways. We help ECE services and schools plan and prepare for emergencies and traumatic incidents, which includes training. And we work alongside ECE and school staff to respond to an incident and, where required, work with their traumatic incident teams.

This is a brief introduction to emergency and traumatic incident management. Refer to the downloads (featured at the bottom of the webpage) for more detailed information. Scroll down for a checklist and a comprehensive guide that will help all ECE services and schools plan for and respond to the stressful and often tragic circumstances caused by emergencies and traumatic incidents.

What is an emergency, traumatic incident or disaster?

International research defines these as events that:

• involve destruction of property
• include injury or loss of life
• affect communities
• are shared by many children and families.

They are also viewed as being out of the realm of ‘normal’ human experience, meaning that they can lead to or result in stress. Recent literature also refers to emergencies and traumatic incidents as events that receive considerable attention in the media, ie, motor vehicle accidents, residential fires and community violence.

Emergencies and traumatic incidents in the New Zealand ECE service and school contexts have been broadly defined as events that:

• cause sudden and/or significant disruption to the operation, or effective operation, of an ECE service, school and their community
• have the potential to affect a large number of children, young people and staff
• create significant dangers or risks to the physical and emotional well-being of children, young people and people within a community
• attract media attention or a public profile for the ECE service and school as a result of the incident.

Examples of emergencies and traumatic incidents include:

• the sudden death, or serious injury of a child, young person, staff member or family or whānau member
• witnessing serious injury or death of a child, young person, staff member or family or whānau member
• threats to the safety of children, young people or staff, including the presence at an ECE service or school of an individual behaving in a dangerous or threatening manner
• a lost or missing child, young person or staff member
• floods, fires, earthquakes and other community crises or natural disasters.

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What important principles guide traumatic incident support?

The way an incident is managed is critical to the recovery of the children, young people and staff within an ECE service or school and can reduce further risk.

The Ministry of Education’s service is guided by the following principles:

• to maintain and resume routines within a setting (to reduce the intensity and duration of difficulties that children, young people and staff can experience following a crisis)
• to respond in culturally-appropriate ways (recognising people’s perceptions of and recovery from traumatic incidents are influenced by their culture and reflecting the importance of working with – not disrupting – people’s existing cultural, religious, spiritual and philosophical practices and beliefs)
• to communicate clearly and promptly about the event (recognising that clear, positive communication can reduce uncertainty and fear and help people cope emotionally and physically)
• to provide psycho-social support (understanding that immediately after an emergency people can experience confusion, disorganisation and emotional numbness and need support that enhances emotional and physical safety). Disasters are usually defined as overwhelming events that can involve destruction of property, include injury or loss of life, affect communities and are shared by many children and families. In addition, disasters are viewed as being out of the realm of 'normal' human experience and as such are viewed as traumatic, meaning that they can lead to or result in stress reactions. This has been extended in recent literature to events that also receive considerable attention in the media and include motor vehicle accidents, residential fires and community violence.

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How do we effectively manage a traumatic incident?

Effective traumatic incident management is directive, time-limited and goal-directed. Planning is the best first step to effectively manage and respond to a traumatic incident.

Effective planning will:

• set up roles and systems that support ECE service and school continuity
• set up roles and systems to communicate effectively to staff, children, young people, their family, whānau and the wider community
• set up systems that will provide immediate traumatic incident management such as having easy access to:
  • factual, accurate, timely information about the incident
  • opportunities to clarify and understand information
  • age- and culturally-appropriate activities
  • information on coping strategies
  • information on psychological needs and mental health issues, including suicide resources, if needed
  • information about rituals and memorials
  • 24-hour emergency contact information, including contact information for interpreters and consulates.

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What should already be in place?

All ECE services and schools need to be prepared and know how to manage a traumatic incident before it occurs.

The way an incident is managed strongly influences people’s recovery and can limit further risk. That means all ECE services and schools need to develop a policy, plan and/or set of procedures covering the management of a traumatic incident.

Policies, plans and procedures need to ensure people’s activities are coordinated. They need to clarify roles and responsibilities, including those played by the agencies that support an ECE service or a school.

It is the responsibility of an ECE service or school traumatic incident team to manage and coordinate all traumatic incident responses.

A service’s or school’s first action will be to convene their own traumatic incident team and begin to assess the circumstances of the traumatic incident (eg, what happened, how many people are involved and the degree to which they are affected).

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What support is available from the Ministry?

The Ministry of Education, Special Education traumatic incident service comprises two main components: planning and preparation (this includes training) and responding and, where required, following up.

Planning and preparation

Traumatic incident coordinators and Special Education staff offer local training to help ECE services and schools prepare policies, plans and procedures annually.

Responding and following up

Special Education staff, under the guidance of traumatic incident coordinators, work alongside a service’s or school’s traumatic incident team to respond to an incident and implement the service or school traumatic incident response plan.

For example, Special Education staff can:

• assist traumatic incident teams to respond to an incident and help maintain day-to-day operations
• assist staff to communicate appropriately with children, young people and the community about the incident
• make people aware of basic coping and self-help strategies such as re-connection with daily routines and care
• provide advice about typical traumatic incident responses
• ensure the safety of children, young people and staff by developing processes and systems with the ECE service or school traumatic incident team
• link to Māori networks and other culturally-appropriate services.