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Episode 17: Prepare, Respond and Promote Recovery When a Crisis Occurs
268 Plays4 months ago
When a crisis occurs in a school or community, staff and students need support. Our episode today features a conversation between Trish Kilpin, MSSW, CTM, Executive Director of the Office of School Safety at the Wisconsin Department of Justice and Chris Mand, Director of Student Services at Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District. Trish and Chris share how schools can prepare to effectively respond to a crisis before it occurs, promote recovery for students and staff through universal supports, and engage community and regional partners in prevention and response.
Show Notes
Coalition for Expanding School-Based Mental Health in Wisconsin
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction - Comprehensive School Mental Health
Wisconsin School Mental Health Framework
Wisconsin Department of Justice - Office of School Safety
National Association of School Psychologists - PREPaRE Training
Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District - School Safety and Security
Recommended
Transcript
Mission Introduction
00:00:17
Speaker
Welcome to School Mental Health Works, a quick dip podcast presenting dialogues on school mental health in Wisconsin as viewed through the lens of the array of stakeholders who play a role in the comprehensive model of school mental health services in Wisconsin.
00:00:33
Speaker
Our mission is to share the successes and challenges experienced by a range of partners in Wisconsin as communities continue to collaborate and show that school mental health works.
Coalition's Vision
00:00:45
Speaker
This series is a product of the Coalition for Expanding School-Based Mental Health in Wisconsin, a statewide coalition with a mission to advance and support expanded, comprehensive, and integrated mental health services within the school setting through school, home, and community partnerships. My name is Kathy Marklund. I'm a coalition board member, and I work with community mental health providers across the state of Wisconsin.
Support during Crises
00:01:10
Speaker
Today, we are really pleased to bring you an important conversation between two of our partners in school mental health. We know you will appreciate the thoughtful insights of our guests.
00:01:20
Speaker
Trish Kilpin, Executive Director of the Office of School Safety in the Wisconsin Department of Justice, and Chris Mand, Director of Student Services in the Middleton Cross Plains Area School Districts. Trish and Chris were gracious enough to gather with us for a conversation on supporting our schools and students through times of crisis.
Understanding Crisis Events
00:01:42
Speaker
Both Trish and Chris have a wealth of experience supporting schools through challenging times.
00:01:48
Speaker
I learned a lot from them in this conversation and I know you will as well. So without further ado, I invite you to dive in as I turn this over to Chris and Trish. Today we are going to be discussing school-based crisis response. I'm Trish Kilpin. I'm joined by Chris Mann, the Director of Student Services at the Middleton Cross Plains Area School District. And I'm the Director of the Office of School Safety at the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
00:02:17
Speaker
and Before we get started talking about how to respond to crisis events, I think it's important that we have a calibrated understanding of what a crisis is. Thank you for that intro, Trish. I'd be happy to ask, what is a crisis event or how do you define a crisis event? I think for the purpose of our discussion today, it's really when a school community is impacted by an acute traumatic stressor. Schools may be impacted by large-scale events or smaller-scale incidents ah that may be more individualized and affect a smaller group of people. We have students each day in our schools that are impacted by crisis events such as the death of a family member. Most times school staff can manage these incidents on their own, but other times crisis events may impact many if a classmate or a teacher dies
00:03:13
Speaker
many may experience collective grief and trauma reactions, and the school has an opportunity to help kids heal after these events occur. When a school experienced such ah a large event, it really might overwhelm the normal coping mechanisms of the school, especially when you have so many impacted. So there's no rule on how we define a crisis event. It's really more about the experience and the impact it has on the school community and what the needs are.
Promoting Recovery
00:03:45
Speaker
As responders, we have responded at the Office of School Safety to a variety of crisis events supporting schools, including when a child has gone missing, a death of a classmate, gun violence at school, community violence, child abuse, and just exposure to violence or traumatic events.
00:04:06
Speaker
That was a big definition with a lot of examples, and thank you for that. So how can we respond effectively and promote recovery after a crisis impacts a school? Oh, that's such a good question. You know, oftentimes on the news, we'll hear that there'll be a crisis event that impacts a school and they'll say, extra counselors are unseen today to help um students as they deal with this tragedy.
00:04:29
Speaker
And for the most part, what we all envision is that students are receiving one-on-one counseling or small group counseling. And those therapeutic services are very important and needed for some, but there's so much more to recovery. We must begin in our recovery efforts to reaffirm a sense of psychological safety for everyone, whether or not they're students who either self-identify or are triaged as needing further care and assistance. So we do that by starting out just meeting the basic needs of students. That goes back to Maslow's hierarchy of needs to make sure that we're addressing people's basic needs like for food and and water and a safe structure and and physical location before they can start processing the events. If there is a location where an upsetting event happens at school,
00:05:25
Speaker
We need to to limit exposure to that. We also limit exposure to things like media coverage when there's events that could impact students. Really careful planning and decisions have to be made about how to manage an empty desk in a classroom after a sudden death of a student to minimize that continued trauma exposure and reminders. One school that we work with, they really creatively and effectively, I might say, minimize the sight lines of a location where a trauma event occurred at their school by painting positive messages of hope and love and healing on the windows. So as we work to reaffirm that sense of safety, we also know that adults can sometimes set the tone, that we need to make sure the adults have had time, those in charge of caring for our children have time to process the event themselves,
00:06:22
Speaker
and that we empower them as caregivers to meet the needs of kids, teaching them psychological first aid and giving them the strategies that they need to be able to support students when they return. You don't need to be a therapist to be therapeutic, but you have to have confidence in meeting the needs of a large group of impacted kids. I really find that most schools after a crisis event, they will prioritize student counseling.
00:06:50
Speaker
That is going to be an important part of recovery interventions, but I believe it does skip some universal steps. We need to begin by facilitating access to more natural social supports. Social support is just an individual's feeling and perception that they're loved and cared for, that they're esteemed, that they're valued by people in their social networks.
00:07:15
Speaker
Quite simply, it's to provide an activity centered around people gathering to support each other with an activity to center them after a crisis. This activity, provided in the immediate aftermath of a crisis event, it really does lessen the need for more intensive interventions and allows students and staff to access that natural support and promote recovery.
00:07:38
Speaker
Social support has been shown to enhance personal coping, to deal with those types of stressors that they may be exposed to, and has been shown to be a buffer for more adverse outcomes. It's only then after we provide some universal strategies and universal interventions for the the school in its entirety and the community that we start triaging and and focusing on interventions that students and staff and parents might need.
00:08:08
Speaker
you know The goal with our interventions is really to facilitate adaptive coping. Students and staff may need a wide variety of interventions after exposure to an event, but they need to practice those skills and we need to support them by empowering them to get through these tough times. We teach crisis intervention courses and empower teams to be able to meet the needs of their school community. And I know, Chris, that you spent quite a bit of time with our office at the Office of School Safety here um doing some learning together and and providing training for all your people service team two members. So I would love for you to share about some of the work that you've done to
00:08:54
Speaker
for preparedness to make sure your crisis interveners know their roles and responsibilities and how to ah respond effectively when crises occur. Can you share some of that planning and preparedness with us?
00:09:06
Speaker
Absolutely. the Yeah, we've been working on a few different areas. I will add that our efforts around crisis preparedness really do fit into that Wisconsin vision for a comprehensive school mental health system. We have approached our work to ensure students and staff have what they need and focus on building that continuum of services and supports.
00:09:27
Speaker
So the first thing you talked about a little bit about how we partnered with you recently was about developing our ability to respond to a crisis event. So our student services staff participated in two-day prepare to training. The prepare to training, as you know, Trish, the curriculum comes to us from the National Association for School Psychologists. It's fabulous.
00:09:49
Speaker
um And so we partnered with your office and got our student services trust staff trained and prepared too. And then we had a work group continue to keep that momentum going by using what we learned in that training to tighten our processes, our systems, and to add to our resources.
00:10:06
Speaker
So a few examples of of some of the work we've done since that training is we worked on developing our principal or our administrator capacity by training our admin team around that prepare to model and how student services staff can assist in a crisis.
00:10:22
Speaker
Our team customized resources so we had them ready to go if needed in a crisis event. So this involved vetting resources for family discussion topics that could be used as a quick link for families if we're sending out correspondence from the school or the district.
00:10:38
Speaker
We aligned our resources and information that we gained from that prepared to training to our district protocols. So we created templates, classroom
Crisis Planning
00:10:46
Speaker
scripts, sample communications, all knowing that in the moment of a crisis, it can be extremely difficult to get started on those communications. And tweaking communications that are already like in template form is much easier than starting from scratch in that moment of crisis.
00:11:03
Speaker
Another thing we did was we reviewed our universal screeners and tightened up our approach to ensure we were consistently screening students for social, emotional and mental health needs, as well as trauma, um at least once per grade span, so elementary, middle and high.
00:11:19
Speaker
And then we also established MOUs with agencies, and I'll talk more about that in a bit. And how, like, who who can we call for if there is a crisis or a trauma event? um And so it's important to note that the MOUs not only focus on our students and families, but we have utilized them like our partnerships with um outside providers to also help our staff. You know, it's really an impressive body of work. you Your team was so motivated after the training to try to contextualize it to your school community and its needs. If you're in a school district and you're listening to this and and you'd like something like that as well, do you have any advice for people on where they could get started? It seems like a big task to to start and so I wonder if you have any
00:12:04
Speaker
So any recommendations for people on how to get started? Wow. Yes. um Well, I think I got started. I was I was newer to the to the district. And so when I was meeting with staff within our student services department, I was soliciting their feedback on areas of growth. What's going well within our department? What do we need to grow on?
00:12:23
Speaker
And I was hearing a theme around increasing our skill set and our ability to respond to crisis that seemed to be coming up. and And so that just became an area that one of our areas of growth that we started to address. And so our first step was to have the entire Student Services Department participate in that prepare to training with the DOJ Office of School Safety.
00:12:44
Speaker
um And then that, like I said, that really jump-started our work. So we transitioned from what we learned in that training to diving into our own practices and our systems and really working to increase our capacity to respond to crisis.
00:12:57
Speaker
And unfortunately, we also had to learn the sad and difficult way as well. um While we were continuing to to work on developing our capacity and crisis response, our district also faced some some crisis of our own. We had several student deaths in the past two years. ah So I can't stress enough the power of debriefing after a critical incident.
00:13:19
Speaker
ah We can always think of what we'll do better, and so the debrief is a time to reflect on what went well, what we need to work on, and then find time to tweak and adjust the response plan so we're ready for it to happen we're ready if it happens again. um So that's really how we got started, and it's continuous work. We're continuing to adjust as we navigate difficult situations. It's really impressive, Chris, how you've contextualized that to the needs of your community. I'm wondering, you you As crisis interveners, of course, responded to crisis events prior to this calibrated training and developing your toolkit, so to speak. And after, did you notice any differences in benefits of doing that work? We have seen benefits, I would say, and ah over the last few years since we started this work. We've seen benefits and it kind of along every step of the way. From that initial prepare-to training to our worker growth,
00:14:17
Speaker
um how we respond to a crisis crisis event and how we support each other, even our staff as caregivers, we're more prepared as a student services department. Our administration trusts us and believes in the work we're doing and how we can support their leadership in responding. And I believe overall just we have better communication and clarity around our process.
00:14:38
Speaker
And so I think that most importantly our students then have the support and our students, staff and families have a process as well to follow, um not only in the crisis event, but after that to get the support they need.
00:14:51
Speaker
um And then I would just say, in addition to that, we've seen benefits around our partnerships. We've had additional partnerships in place with outside agencies to provide that student family and staff support as needed, and that has grown stronger over the years as well. So a lot of benefit to the work we're doing, and and there's it's great to feel like you're prepared because you're in the moment. There's always curveballs, right? and you and just being, we're all trained, we're all on the same page and we're making sure our new staff are getting trained as well in that prepare two model so that we're all on the same page and speaking the same language when we're in that moment. What what a gift you're giving to your team that you're you know investing in in their their toolkit so that they are you know less traumatized themselves about preparing, um about providing these types of services for kids.
00:15:44
Speaker
it can really take a toll on a team and it's really um admirable that you've you've committed these resources. Chris, you and I have both been working in the field for quite a while as school social workers. yes I'm wondering, you know, things have evolved over the years and we now see school-based mental health partners and providers that are joining in these efforts that are an important part of the resource allocation after a crisis event. And I'm wondering,
00:16:13
Speaker
Could you talk a little bit about that? Have you seen um how the benefit it of working with school based mental health providers in these efforts? Sure. Our school-based mental health providers are an important part of our district's work in responding to crisis. um Having those memorandums of understanding, those MOUs in place outlining the partnership and the agreed-upon services, that should be reviewed annually and that is something we are doing. but Many times when we partner with school-based mental health providers, it's around individual students or small groups of students who are accessing services at school.
00:16:47
Speaker
So now we make sure when we are working on our MOU every year that we also have an agreement of how providers can support us in times of crisis just because we've navigated so many and we've learned we need them. We need their help. um My experience has been to utilize practitioners to support our staff.
00:17:06
Speaker
during times of crisis because our staff are often in need of the support and they're so focused on students and providing interventions and supports for our students. So a lot of times I've used the practitioners and the outside providers um to provide so support for our staff.
00:17:22
Speaker
And then also I've found using practitioners as part of the debrief, they offer such a great outside lens when it comes time to debrief and and they help us process the situation and move forward with healing. um So they it's been they've been instrumental in the last few years in navigating some of the things we have in Middleton. um And I look forward to, we've continued to look to expand our school-based mental health providers in our school district as well, ah because they are such an asset to our our district and community.
00:17:54
Speaker
I just love that. It's just that it's so fantastic that you've broadened your thinking around providing support, yes, for individual students, but also for the school staff at large and for your crisis team. um That is really phenomenal, Chris, that you know we know the toll that this work can take on teams and that you've included that in your plans. And that's really impressive. I know this that done quite a bit in terms of like working on your resources so that they're a fingertip or a click away if you should were to need them rather than having to compose communications and find resources in the midst of a crisis event. is there Are there any recommendations that you have for um resources that teams who are just starting this work could benefit from familiarizing themselves with?
00:18:50
Speaker
Sure. I guess one thing I would recommend is is collaborating and learning from other area's school districts um or local human service agencies and from our school-based mental health professionals. We often learn from each other and share resources along the way.
00:19:06
Speaker
um I would encourage districts to be familiar with their local resources and what is available for support, and then build those connections and relationships before that critical event occurs. um I would utilize resources to help develop your own systems at school districts, your own practices, and your teams as well. So tapping into the DOJ Office of School Safety to dive deeper into, for example, the violence Violent risk assessment process. Learn what tools are being used for suicide risk assessment from human service agencies or other agencies, and then explore using those tools for school. um Have those partnerships and have that same language. Utilize DPI and CISA and other agencies for compassion resilience training, for example, or finding speakers to come share knowledge with your team.
00:19:55
Speaker
And I would just say continuing to integrate and align systems and practices with local and state frameworks because that really does open the door for more support and resources to come into the school district and always aligning the work somehow to district goals, strategy maps, things like that so that you have administrator and and board um approval and it all ties in together similarly like with the the mental health framework, making sure everything just kind of aligns and ties in together.
00:20:22
Speaker
While you have really thought it through, I love how you're connecting it to district and board policies, that you're making sure it's consistent with um the other places that you provide mental health interventions in your school. It's really quite impressive.
00:20:38
Speaker
Thank you. Well, now I have a question for you. OK, I'm ready. So your office has dev developed 12 critical incident response teams across the state. And I have been lucky to serve on that in the last year. That's been wonderful. Can you explain how those teams function and how someone can access that crisis response support from the Office of School Safety? Oh, I
Critical Incident Response Teams
00:21:02
Speaker
love this question. Thank you, Chris. I am really proud of the critical incident response work that we've been doing. and And in fact, Wisconsin is leading the nation in terms of being one of the first states to provide these teams and these resources. Yes, those 12 teams that you mentioned, Chris, they correspond to each CSU region. So we have trained 424 people across the state, each corresponding to a CSU region, where we can provide critical incident response support
00:21:37
Speaker
to any school, public, private, or tribal that is in need or needs a consultation. People can access this service just simply by contacting us at the Office of School Safety, just either by emailing us at schoolsafety at doj.state.wi.us or calling us at our SUSO Resource Center, which is the number is 1-800-MY-SUSO-1. What we have found with this project is that, first of all, training 424 people across the state in evidence-based crisis intervention practices has had ripple effects. People are bringing that to their local districts and um really empowering, feeling empowered to be able to respond effectively when they experience crisis events. But we also have resource sharing and deployment that we can provide if schools are in need.
00:22:33
Speaker
The school remains in control of all decisions when we provide support. We are really providing consultation.
Social Support Toolkits
00:22:42
Speaker
We are giving them ideas when they get stuck, especially when for complex cases. We have developed 12 toolkits, one for each region, to help schools to employ that social support idea that I mentioned earlier. Sometimes we feel that's often missed, so we wanted to reduce barriers to people receiving that social support So pretty much at every CISA, there is a social support toolkit that is easily accessible and any school can utilize it. We in it are all the activities to have a community event in the in the aftermath of ah of a crisis. In this project, we've really found that um most school leaders and school mental health teams, they need a ah consult. They need to check in about certain very specific questions
00:23:33
Speaker
And so through this program, we're available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and we prioritize making sure that schools have what they need so that so that team that that school can recover well and get kids back to learning more quickly. Such an amazing resource for our state. So thank you for leading that work. Absolutely. You know, when we think of crisis response, Chris, I just um I think it's such a an amazing opportunity that we have as crisis interveners. If we respond effectively and if we use those evidence-based practices, we have the opportunity and power to to mitigate or reduce the trauma impact for some of these events and get kids back to their learning journey more quickly.
00:24:20
Speaker
and that's there's very little that I would put over that is um making sure that we're ready to respond in the midst of a crisis in ways that promote recovery and do no harm. Absolutely. Well, thanks for joining me today, Chris. It's been a pleasure to talk to you about all things crisis recovery. I feel like we could talk all day, um but we i'm I'm appreciative of having you as a member of our critical incident response team and very grateful for the work you're doing at a local level in Middleton Cross Plains.
00:24:52
Speaker
Thank you. Absolutely. It was a pleasure being here and thank you for inviting me. Absolutely. Looking forward to future episodes. Make sure to subscribe on the podcast platform of your choice and leave us a rating so that others invested in better mental health for Wisconsin students can find us.
00:25:11
Speaker
We welcome your questions. You can reach us and find resources and learn more by checking out today's show notes and by visiting the coalition's web website at schoolmentalhealthwisconsin.org. Until next time.