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In the Aftermath of a School Hostage Event: A Case Study of One School Counselor's Response
Abstract
The authors interviewed a school counselor to determine her response to an armed hostage event in a classroom. They found that her primary interventions took place after the perpetrator had been taken into custody, through counseling students who had been in the room, contacting professionals from the school district and the local mental health facility for help, and coordinating these other professionals. Results are presented in light of the crisis intervention literature. Finally, implications for professional school counselors are discussed.
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The author describes important considerations when assessing students' threats made at schools. In a recent article, M. Reddy et al. (2001) presented 4 approaches to assessing the risk of school violence. They submitted important issues and problems with 3 commonly used approaches and suggested a 4th approach as an alternative. Implications for school counselors are explored.
The public school system in the United States has always presented itself as representing the hallmarks of vital socialization, equality in education, hope for the future and sense of community. This picture has changed drastically in the past 20 years. Chaos seems to be replacing community. This fact is only too apparent when we read recent accounts of the tragedies that have unfolded in the past 3 years in Pearl, Mississippi, West Paducah, Kentucky, Jonesboro, Arkansas, Springfield, Oregon or Littleton, Colorado. As a result of the deteriorating social environment and a significant growing fiscal crisis faced by our nation's schools, children are encountering substantial hurdles on their journey toward responsible adulthood. Two current trends, which are negatively affecting students' educational experience and quality of life are violence and suicide. Juvenile violence and suicide are becoming increasingly commonplace across the United States. In 1994, an average of one young person aged 24 and younger killed themselves every 1 hour and 39.6 minutes. The number of incidents of violence and the severity of these acts have also dramatically increased over the past 5 to 7 years. This article addresses the causes and strategies for prevention of school violence and adolescent suicide and delineates a holistic integrated prevention model.
The authors discuss the components of consensual qualitative research (CQR) using open-ended questions to gather data, using words to describe phenomena, studying a few cases intensively, recognizing the importance of context, using an inductive analytic process, using a team and making decisions by consensus, using auditors, and verifying results by systematically checking against the raw data. The three steps for conducting CQR are developing and coding domains, constructing core ideas, and developing categories to describe consistencies across cases (cross analysis). Criteria for evaluating CQR are trustworthiness of the method, coherence of the results, representativeness of the results to the sample, testimonial validity, applicability of the results, and replicability across samples. Finally, the authors discuss implications for research, practice, and training.
Because there has been an increasing demand for school counselors to provide crisis intervention within the school setting, the preparation for crisis intervention is an important topic for the profession. The purpose of this research was to provide a basis from which to initiate discussion regarding the match between the preparation of school counselors for crisis intervention and the demands of the profession. Even though feedback from school counselors suggests recent graduates are receiving more preparation for crisis intervention that in the past, almost one third of school counselors continue to enter the profession with no formal course work or supervised experiences in their practica or internships. Translated into practical language, children attend schools where counselors are not prepared to provide crisis intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Considers elementary-age children's reactions to disasters and their needs for mental health assistance, specifically school counseling interventions. This paper suggests guiding principles that school counselors can use as they initiate disaster assistance and presents various suggestions for helping school children cope. A case study of a traumatized 1st-grade male student is also provided, demonstrating how child-centered play therapy can be used in school settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The authors reviewed the application of consensual qualitative research (CQR) in 27 studies published since the method's introduction to the field in 1997 by C. E. Hill, B. J. Thompson, and E. N. Williams (1997). After first describing the core components and the philosophical underpinnings of CQR, the authors examined how it has been applied in terms of the consensus process, biases, research teams, data collection, data analysis, and writing up the results and discussion sections of articles. On the basis of problems that have arisen in each of these areas, the authors made recommendations for modifications of the method. The authors concluded that CQR is a viable qualitative method and suggest several ideas for research on the method itself.
The 1995 Oklahoma City bombing killed 168 people, including 19 children, and injured hundreds more. Children were a major focus of concern in the mental health response. Most services for them were delivered in the Oklahoma City Public Schools where approximately 40,000 students were enrolled at the time of the explosion. Middle and high school students in the Oklahoma City Public Schools completed a clinical assessment 7 weeks after the explosion. The responses of 2720 students were analyzed to explore predictors of posttraumatic stress symptomatology, functioning, and treatment contact. Posttraumatic stress symptomatology was associated with initial reaction to the incident and to bomb-related television exposure. Functional difficulty was associated with initial reaction and posttraumatic stress symptomatology. Only 5% of the students surveyed had received counseling. There was no relationship between posttraumatic stress symptomatology and counseling contact for students with the highest levels of posttraumatic stress. Implications for school-based services are discussed.
As concerns about the level of school violence have increased in recent years, many schools have instituted policies designed to deter or prohibit violent and aggressive acts on school campuses. Although well intentioned, most such policies tend to be reactive and punitive in nature. In contrast, this article proposes a positive approach to violence prevention based on establishing meaningful connections between students, their families, peers, and school.
Findings from a longitudinal study are presented on the relationships between the problems and stresses resulting from Hurricane Andrew and posthurricane minor deviant behavior. The sample (N = 4,978) included Hispanic, African-American, and White non-Hispanic middle school students enrolled in Dade County, Florida public schools. Two waves of data were collected prior to the hurricane; a third was obtained approximately 6 months following the storm. Results indicated that females were likely to report higher levels of hurricane-related stress symptoms than males. After controlling for prehurricane levels of minor deviance, family support, and race/ethnicity, hurricane stress symptom level remained a significant predictor of posthurricane minor deviant behavior. The findings lend support to stress theories of social deviance.
Provides basic guidelines to help teachers and administrators in dealing with violent situations involving weapons
Expanding social stress, changing school demographics, and decreasing community mental health services have expanded the range of services required of the school counselor. The list of necessary mental health skills and implications for counselor education are discussed. It is recommended that "guidance" counselors redefine themselves as "school mental health counselors." (EMK)
Offers school counselors an overview of their ethical obligations related to school violence and an explanation of their legal duty to protect students from harm. Discusses characteristics of students who may be at risk for violent behavior and strategies for preventing school violence. (Contains 52 references.) (GCP)
Presents a step-by-step guidebook for advance preparation and early response to school crises. Specifically, the authors provide a chapter on the early detection of potentially violent students (with concrete ideas on how to proactively respond to the special needs of these youth), anecdotal vignettes illustrating actual school crises and the responses by school personnel, a blueprint for crisis response training (including a complete in-service workshop designed to facilitate crisis intervention skill development), and guidelines for responding to the unique opportunities and dangers presented by media attention. Recommendations for helping to ensure student and staff safety and security before, during, and after crises; suggestions for assessing crisis response plan readiness; and guidelines for debriefing and evaluating a school crisis response are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Studied students in Grades 3–5 in 3 schools in an area hard hit by a hurricane. Approximately 5 mo after the storm, the authors obtained parent reports of the children's reactions to the hurricane, student self-reports of their reactions, and demographic information on each S. Ss completed the Children's Depression Inventory and the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory. The hurricane was a sufficiently traumatic event to cause the majority of Ss to be significantly distressed 5 mo after it happened. Overall, the global adjustment of the Ss was not adversely affected to a large degree. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article discusses an approach to working with large groups of students traumatized by a common crisis. The approach is entitled Classroom Crisis Intervention (CCI; S. E. Brock, 1996), and the 6 steps of the CCI model are reviewed. The CCI aims at helping children to understand the trauma, express thoughts and feelings, and learn coping behaviors within the students' regular classrooms. Besides reasons of practicality and cost-effectiveness, group crisis intervention strategies also take advantage of the demonstrated value of group treatment models. For example, CCI helps students to feel less alone and more connected to their classmates because of a common shared experience. Also, by promoting the sense that trauma responses are normal, CCI helps survivors regain a sense of hope and optimism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Findings from a longitudinal study are presented on the relationships between the problems and stresses resulting from Hurricane Andrew and posthurricane minor deviant behavior. The sample (N = 4,978) included Hispanic, African-American, and White non-Hispanic middle school students enrolled in Dade County, Florida public schools. Two waves of data were collected prior to the hurricane; a third was obtained approximately 6 months following the storm. Results indicated that females were likely to report higher levels of hurricane-related stress symptoms than males. After controlling for prehurricane levels of minor deviance, family support, and race/ethnicity, hurricane stress symptom level remained a significant predictor of posthurricane minor deviant behavior. The findings lend support to stress theories of social deviance.
Provides information pertinent to developing an effective intervention plan in the event of sudden death or suicide in schools. Necessary tools for the first 48 hours; Factors specific to mental health counseling.
Over the past three decades, there has been a noted increase in hostage and barricade incidents involving perpetrators with a variety of emotional, economic, and political motives. A hostage incident may be defined as an incident in which (a) perpetrator(s) hold(s) one or more persons against their will in a location known to police. A barricade incident, on the other hand, is an incident without hostages in which a perpetrator is barricaded, also in a location known to police and refusing to surrender. Approximately 25 years ago, a theory of crisis/hostage negotiations was developed which has been continuously refined in field applications. This article will define the goal of crisis/hostage negotiation, review the history of hostage taking from biblical times to the present, review the utilization of psychologists and other mental health consultants by police crisis/hostage negotiation teams, and discuss the four roles and related functions of psychologists on crisis/hostage negotiation teams.
Following the 1991 Gulf War a group of 94 children in Iraq were interviewed at 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years after the war. The group was exposed to the bombing of a shelter where more than 750 were killed. Selected items from different inventories, including the Impact of Event Scale (IES) assessed children's reactions. Results reveal that children continue to experience sadness and remain afraid of losing their family. Although there was no significant decline in intrusive and avoidance reactions as measured by the IES from 6 months to 1 year following the war, reactions were reduced 2 years after the war. However, the scores were still high, indicating that symptoms persist, with somewhat diminished intensity over time.
After the September 11 terrorist attacks, many adults and children received counseling. The authors assessed the prevalence and correlates of counseling for experiences related to the disaster received by children aged four to 18 years living in Manhattan.
From a representative sample of 1,008 adult residents of Manhattan who were living below 110th Street five to eight weeks after the attacks, the authors interviewed 112 parents or primary caretakers about their child's level of exposure to the disaster, the extent of loss, receipt of counseling services, and behavioral reaction.
Overall, 22 percent of the children had received some form of counseling related to their experiences after the disaster. More than half of the counseling received (58 percent) was delivered in schools. Predictors of counseling in a multivariate model were male sex (odds ratio=5.3), having a parent with current posttraumatic stress disorder related to the attacks (OR=4.3), and having at least one sibling living in the household (OR=3.6).
Parents' own level of posttraumatic stress was associated with whether their children received counseling related to the September 11 attacks. This finding has important implications, because parents act as decision makers for their children in seeking health care. After the terrorist attacks, school and health care personnel provided early intervention counseling in Manhattan.
Children are exposed to violence in their homes and communities at extraordinarily high rates. Given the alarming rates of exposure and its known impact on child developmental outcomes, crisis intervention geared at interrupting the negative effects of violence exposure are increasingly important. This review provides a rationale for the implementation of early and crisis intervention strategies for children exposed to community violence and recommends principles for applying these interventions. These principles are based on the body of research concerning risk and protective factors for children who have been exposed to violence. Relevant factors are reviewed and recommended principles are explicated that correlate to these factors. Issues concerning developmentally informed crisis intervention, support of parental executive functioning, and the need for active community partnership to help ameliorate risk factors are highlighted.
The amount of community violence that children and adolescents are exposed to is unsettling. Intensifying the issue, the amount of community violence that is wit-nessed or experienced directly by children and adolescents is increasing with time. It has been documented that children and adolescents who are exposed to community violence display a wide array of psychological symptoms, ranging from depression and anxiety to antisocial and suicidal behaviors. Many variables have been studied in an attempt to determine correlates, moderators, and mediators of exposure to community violence. Furthermore, many intervention strategies have been developed from the discovery of relationships among these variables. Despite these efforts, many children continue to suffer from the negative effects of exposure to community violence. The purpose of this article is to encourage mental health professionals to mobilize their efforts to help children, adolescents, and their families cope with the effects of community violence.
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