School Safety and Crisis Response

The overwhelming majority of 21st century school shooters were adolescents that more frequently suffered from mental health issues or limited conflict resolution skills. It is essential to assess and support the mental health needs of students both to prevent school violence and to enable them to cope with trauma in the aftermath of an incident.

Katsiyannis et al., 2018; Paolini, 2015

Videos About School Safety and Crisis Response

Disaster and Community Crisis Center at the University of Missouri give practical suggestions for educators.  Closed Captioned, 3:23 minutes.  
Personal story of how a simple act of kindness changed the course of one person’s life and saved many others.  Closed Captioned, 7:28 minutes.  
Webinar by Virginia Public Schools gives an overview of effective threat assessment and how school safety fits into a tiered system of support.  Closed Captioned, 58:08 minutes.  
Outlines how Center Grove Community School System in Greenwood, Indiana are implementing a proactive approach to support students with trauma or stress.  Closed Captioned, 2:20 minutes.
Penn State Health child and adolescent psychiatrist advises how to communicate around these issues and warning signs that children are experiencing stress linked to an event.  Closed Captioned, 9:22 minutes.  
Webinar from the National Association of Secondary School Principals discusses how schools can support students in the aftermath of events such as bereavement, school shooting or natural disaster.  Closed Captioned, 58.04 minutes.  

57times as many shootings in the USA since 2009 as in the other six G7 countries (countries with the largest advanced economies in the world) combined.  (Grabow & Rose, 2018)

3 tiers of increasing complexity of mental health support can reduce acts of serious school violence.  (Fabiano & Evans, 2018)

59% of the 185 public mass shootings in USA from 1900 through 2017 were carried out by someone with prior signs of poor mental health.  (Duwe & Rocque, 2018)

More Information About School Safety and Crisis Response

Dealing with Natural and Man-Made Disasters
Center for School Mental Health lists websites and fact sheets focusing on support strategies.
https://www.hcpss.org/f/aboutus/disasters.pdf

National Education Association’s School Crisis Guide
Comprehensive guide to help schools prevent, prepare, respond to and recover from to crises.
https://www.nea.org/resource-library/neas-school-crisis-guide
Responding to Tragedy: Resources for Educators and Parents
List of websites, books and articles for educators and caregivers.
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/tragedy-grief-resources-education

Resources to Help Your School Cope with Tragedy
Highlights resources that are most helpful to different categories of professionals and for families.
https://www.naesp.org/communicator-december-2012/resources-help-your-school-cope-tragedy

Helping Kids After a Shooting
Resources for school counselors
https://edubirdie.com/blog/gun-control-essay

Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement
A free curriculum providing lesson plans and resources to teach self-empowerment, resilience and connection with the aim of creating safer schools. Has versions for educators and parents.
https://chooselovemovement.org