ABSTRACT

Physical and psychological recovery and crisis management after an event needs to be included within both the comprehensive safe school/district plan and the school/district crisis response plan. High-quality psychological recovery and crisis management efforts are paramount not only for decreasing contagion, but also for reestablishing and sustaining a safe schools climate. Elementary school-aged children may communicate trauma reactions verbally but behavioral expression continues to be common and the focus is more on event-specific fears or concerns. This chapter highlights the continuum of psychological first aid and crisis recovery interventions. Psychological first aid may also need to occur for the school staff. Providing crisis recovery interventions on a multi-tiered continuum can be both physically and emotionally exhausting for the caregivers, which include school staff and parents. Lastly, a large component of effective crisis recovery intervention is helping students understand death. When determining the appropriateness of a memorial, consider the cause of death and historically what the school has done.