Traumatic incident management support for schools and ECE services

The Ministry of Education, in partnership with schools and ECE services, has a responsibility to ensure that learning environments are emotionally and physically safe for children and young people (National Administration Guidelines 5.1; Revised Statement of Desirable Objectives and Practices (DOPs) for Chartered Early Childhood Services in New Zealand 1996, 5a).

The Ministry of Education works closely with school and ECE services' staff to manage traumatic incidents as part of the ministry's contribution to providing safe learning environments. A major aim of traumatic incident support is to reduce further harm to others by assisting the school or ECE service to continue its day-to- day operations.

This booklet is intended to support all those who must prepare, and plan together as a team, the recovery of a school or early childhood community experiencing a traumatic incident.

This booklet:

• defines a traumatic incident
• outlines Important Principles Guiding traumatic incident support
• outlines what systems and procedures should already be in place
• provides information on the support that is available
• provides information on traumatic incident response actions
• provides information on how to seek Ministry of Education assistance.

back to top

What is a traumatic incident or disaster?

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.

Traumatic incidents in New Zealand schools and ECE settings have been broadly defined as events that:

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

Examples of traumatic incidents may include:

• the death or serious injury of a child or young person, staff member or family/whānau member
• witnessing serious injury or death of a child, young person, staff member or family/whānau members
• threats to the safety of students or staff, including the presence at the school or ECE service of an individual behaving in a dangerous or threatening manner
• a lost or missing child, young person or staff member
• floods, fires, earthquakes or other community crisis or natural disaster.

back to top

What important principles guide traumatic incident support?

The way an incident is managed is critical to the recovery of the school or ECE service and reduces the potential for further risk.

Ministry support for schools/ECE services is guided by the following principles:

• Maintain normal structures
  The resumption of familiar roles and routines as soon as possible following a traumatic event helps to reduce the intensity and duration of difficulties that children, young people and staff can experience following a crisis event. It is important to maintain day-to-day activities and involve children and young people in tasks that use their energies and abilities in meaningful ways.
• Culturally appropriate and age appropriate responses
  Differing cultures can have different perceptions about a traumatic event. Provision of culturally appropriate responses provides supportive contexts for children and young people. Similarly, age appropriate responses allow children and young people to explore the meaning of disaster events and to construct views of the disaster experience in ways that allow the trauma to be acknowledged without it being an overwhelming, defining influence on self-perceptions and interpersonal relationships.
• Psychological first aid
  Those involved during, and immediately after, acute traumatic exposure can experience confusion, disorganisation and emotional numbness. Psychological first aid focuses on providing immediate support on the `here and now' and `what needs to happen next' for those involved in the management of an incident in order to promote problem-solving and functioning. Interventions support and respect the protocols or `kawa' of the settings involved.
• Communication
  Clear, positive communication acts to reduce uncertainty and fear and prompt positive emotional and physical coping.

back to top

What should already be in place?

Each school and ECE service needs to develop its own procedures before a traumatic incident occurs. The procedures support the coordination of all activities by clearly stating the roles and responsibilities of differing staff members. A number of differing agencies have a role in supporting the school or early childhood education community. During the preparation of their plans, schools and ECE services can explore the relationships and roles of these differing agencies, making provision for their inclusion as appropriate. The plan does not depend on any single person but promotes the coordinated responsibilities of a team of people who act to support staff and students and the functioning of the school/ECE service.

Steps for schools and ECE services to follow:

1. Develop a Traumatic Incident Response Plan and Team. The Ministry of Education, Special Education (GSE) runs annual Traumatic Incident Response Plan workshops to support schools, early childhood education services and their associated community agencies to collaboratively explore their relationships, roles and responsibilities.
2. Regularly review the traumatic incident response team and Plan, including the system for calling the team together.
3. Ensure all staff are familiar with the Plan and know what to do.

back to top

What support is available from the ministry?

Effective traumatic incident support works at both organisational and personal levels. Traumatic incident coordinators from the Ministry of Education, Special Education assist schools and ECE services with the preparation of policies and traumatic incident planning. In the event of a traumatic incident, ministry staff, under the guidance of traumatic incident coordinators, will work alongside the school/ECE service's traumatic incident team to support their traumatic incident plan. Traumatic incident coordinators can be contacted on 0800 TI TEAM (0800 848326).

Preparation support may include:

• assistance with forming traumatic incident response teams and plans
• ensuring that policies and procedures are functional.

Traumatic incident support may include:

• assisting the traumatic incident response team with planning, problem solving and supporting the school/ECE service's ability to maintain its day-to-day operations
• assisting staff to communicate appropriately with children, young people and the community about the incident
• promoting basic forms of support and self-help strategies, such as reconnection with daily routines, and care and advice about the meaning of varying survivor responses in emergency situations to those experiencing them
• ensuring safety of children, young people and staff by assisting in the identification of and planning for their wellbeing, especially those who may be particularly at risk owing to previous loss, stress and/or mental health issues
• providing immediate support for those who have witnessed or been involved in the trauma
• supporting links to Māori networks and other culturally appropriate services.

back to top

In the event of a traumatic incident

Recommendations

If you receive a call regarding a traumatic incident:

• listen to what has happened
• record the caller's name and phone number
• record the names of others involved and the name of schools and/or ECE services affected
• check that appropriate emergency services have been contacted
• inform the caller of any actions you will take (such as informing the Principal/head teacher, informing the Ministry of Education traumatic incident coordinator by calling the 0800 number)
• give the caller your name and phone number in case they need to call back
• immediately the call is over make contact with the principal/senior management of the affected school/ECE service and/or the ministry traumatic incident coordinator through the 0800 service - 0800 TI TEAM (0800 848326).

The school Principal/senior management may:

• record and verify the facts of the event
• record and ascertain the individuals involved
• ascertain the reactions of those involved and record any actions taken
• inform the board of trustees (BOT) and any other schools and or early childhood education services that may be affected
• contact and establish the school/ECE-based traumatic incident team to coordinate support and further arrangements
• contact the Ministry of Education traumatic incident coordinator 0800 service.

The ministry traumatic incident coordinator may:

• contact (if the school/ECE service has not made contact) school/ECE service's senior management/Principal to determine if they require support, and to negotiate further involvement if required
• contact and form a Ministry of Education Team to support the school/ECE service (size and composition depends on information received and/or cultural setting).

The ministry traumatic incident support team may:

• support the formation of a school or ECE service-based traumatic incident response team if this has not already occurred where member roles and responsibilities are clearly defined (the team should involve senior management, BOT representatives and other agencies as appropriate)
• work alongside the school/ECE service-based traumatic incident team to support the teams problem solving and organisation.

The School/ECE service-based traumatic incident team may:

• inform all staff of the event and identify and notify other key people
• seek cultural assistance as appropriate (eg, Kaumatua, Māori staff)
• prepare written statements that are factual and accurate to inform staff, children and young people, the media and community. In the case of a death, family/whānau affected consult in culturally appropriate ways and share the content of any written statements
• clearly assign roles and clearly communicate these to staff and other key people
• support the varying reactions of school and ECE service members through maintaining normal structures, gathering accurate information about reactions, positive messages, activities in classrooms and licensed spaces, support rooms as appropriate, extra staff as needed etc
• accurately record and monitor all staff and children and young people's attendance and whereabouts
• assist with planning for media attention such as the time journalists will arrive, who they see and where they go
• develop an at risk register
• plan for the collection of deceased children's, young people's and/or staff's personal belongings and equipment to return to the family/whānau in culturally appropriate and sensitive ways. Promote culturally appropriate ways of `normalising' the learning environment of the school/ECE service
• plan for the next day, and future events
• keep written records of all actions.
• compile a report of actions at the conclusion of the incident in consultation with all traumatic incident team members, with recommendations on future actions as needed.

back to top

How to seek Ministry of Education assistance

In the event of a traumatic incident call 0800 TI TEAM (0800 848326). This number will put you in contact with your local Special Education traumatic incident coordinator or District Special Education Manager. If you are making a call from a mobile phone the number will put you in contact with a Traumatic Incident coordinator/District office manager who will return your call and inform you of your nearest traumatic incident coordinator. These calls will receive top priority. Previous experience shows that rapid responses from skilled teams create the best opportunities for supporting the recovery of those experiencing a traumatic incident.

back to top

References

American Academy of Pediatrics, Work Group on Disasters (1995). Psychosocial issues for children and families in disasters: A guide for the primary care physician. http://www.mentalhealth.org/publications/allpubs/SMA95-3022/default.asp.

American Psychological Association (1997). Final Report: Task force on the mental health response to the Oklahoma City Bombing. Washington, DC.

Brock, S. E., Sandoval, J; Lewis, S. (2001). A manual for building school crisis response teams. (2nd ed.). J. Wiley & Sons Inc. NY.

Coggan, C., Dickson, P., Peters, T., and Brewin M. (2001). Formative Evaluation of Specialist Education Services: Traumatic Incidents. Injury Prevention Research Centre Te Puu Taki Aukati Whara University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Klingman, A. (1992). The contribution of school mental health services to community-wide emergency reorganization and management during the 1991 Gulf War. School Psychology International 13, 195-206.

Klingman, A. (2001a). Prevention of anxiety disorders: The case of post-traumatic stress disorder. In W. K. Silverman and P. D. A. Treffers (eds.) Anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. Research, assessment and intervention (pp 368-391). Cambridge, UK. Cambridge University Press.

Klingman, A. (2001b). Stress reactions and adaptations of Israeli school-age children evacuated from homes during massive missile attacks. Stress, Anxiety and Coping 14, 1-14.

La Greca, A. M., Silvermann, A. M., Vernberg, E. M., Roberts, M. C. (2002) Helping Children Cope With Disasters and terrorism. American Psychological Association (ed.). Washington, DC.

Ministry of Health June 2006. Draft Psychosocial Recovery Plan. Wellington: Ministry of Health.

Pynoos, N. S., Nader, K. (1988). Psychological first aid and treatment approach to children exposed to community violence: Research implications. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 1, 445-473.

Sandoval, J. (2002). Handbook of Crisis Counseling, Intervention and Prevention in the Schools. (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum, New Jersey

Young, M. A. (1998). The community crisis response team training manual (2nd ed.) National organization for Victim Assistance, Washington, DC.