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Critical Incident Response

August 2022

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Objectives

Safety and Crisis Response Protocols
Crisis Response Teams
Universal Screening
Planning Document

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Safety & Crisis Response Systems

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LEVEL ONE: Safety, Violence Prevention, and Crisis Response

Multiple Areas of Safety Prevention and Intervention

Suicide
Violence prevention
Threats of violence
Critical incident response
Child abuse and neglect
Runaway youth or unaccompanied minors
Drug addiction
Severe mental illness (i.e., psychosis)

High Risk (In-Risk) v. At-Risk Youth

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Safety and Crisis Response Systems

Critical Incident Response Protocol

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Tiered Approach to Building Knowledge and Skills

All – Knowledge and skills that all staff need (i.e., Bus drivers)

Some – Specific knowledge and skills for some of our staff (Teachers)

Few – Expert knowledge and skills for a few of our staff (social workers, school psychologists, counselors, and administrators)

Parents’ and caregivers' mental health literacy development

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Where to begin? �

Core Critical Incident Response Domains

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The Critical Incident Response Process

Awareness of the Critical Incident

& Assign Tasks

Gathering Relevant Facts

Connecting with Families of Students/Staff

Developing & Delivering Communication Memos for Key Stakeholders

Activating Psychological First Aid (PFA) for Students

DOCUMENTATION

FOLLOW-UP WITH STUDENTS/STAFF

DEBRIEFING AFTER THE EVENT

ACTIVATING EAP CRITICAL INCIDENT SUPPORT FOR STAFF (EAP)

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What are the roles?

Coordinating efforts (developing communication, assigning tasks, etc.) – District & Site Admin

Point person for the following:

Media – Administrator role
Parent/family
Teacher/staff
Building/grounds
Supplies/materials

Establish A School Site Crisis Response Team

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Members Roles and Responsibilities

Triage and documenting of students coming in for support
Deliver psychological first aid (individual or group)
Support delivering of announcing information to impacted classes or students
Connecting with the parents of students seen during the response
Ensuring there is a follow-up plan for students needing ongoing mental health services

Everyone on the team engages in debriefing and evaluating efforts at the end of a critical incident.

Everyone on the team engages in improving efforts and developing ongoing PD plan.

Establish A Crisis Response Team

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Awareness of Critical Incident

Incidents with Staff

HR, district leadership, and/or site principal will receive notice
Crisis Response Coordinator is notified

Incident in the community or a student incident

Site administration may be notified
Crisis response coordinator is notified
CRN, OCDE communicates with district point person
Trauma Intervention Program (TIP)

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About Us

A major reason for the TIP Program is to prevent what mental health professionals call the “Second Injury.” The Second Injury is a victim’s perspective that the emergency system did not provide the support needed after a tragic event. Emergency personnel simply do not have the time to provide this support. In Orange County, they call TIP Volunteers who can prevent a second injury. In parts of the county which do not have a TIP Program, second injuries reported by victims are common.

Three Examples of Second Injuries

An elderly gentleman, whose wife was hit and killed in a crosswalk, was not informed why she was left in the street for hours. To this day, the husband is still angry at “the system.”

After a young man killed himself, his family was left to clean the bloody scene on their own. To this day, they wonder “why didn’t anyone help us with this awful task?”

After a mother of four died in an emergency department, her family felt pressed by busy hospital staff into choosing a mortuary. To this day, the family regrets the hurried decision they made.

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Connecting with Families of Students/Staff�Gathering Relevant Facts

Loss of Student/Staff or Severe Accident:

Ask what information they wish to keep from disclosure
Ask family if any support is needed
Ask family if they are open to future contacts regarding funeral, vigils, etc.

Principal are expected to connect with the family as soon as possible to express condolences.ct with the family as soon as possible to express condolences.

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Developing and Delivering Communication Memos for Key Stakeholders

Communicating with stakeholders

Cabinet/board members
District office and site administrators
Parents/families
Teachers/staff
Students

Content of communication will…

Vary depending on the wishes of the families
Be as general as possible and not include any identifiable information (e.g., name of deceased)
Will be disseminated in the following order.

Staff
Parents/Families
Students

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Developing Communication for Teachers

Classes directly impacted by the loss of teacher or student.

Crisis response team members will:

Deliver the message to impacted classes
Offer PFA for students and stay for part of the class or the entire class, if necessary

All communication messages sent out will include the following:

Information of available support
How to connect to that support
Contact information to access support

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Psychological First Aid (PFA) for Students

Who Delivers PFA?

Social workers, counselors, and school psychologists
Students are triaged based on level of reaction to the event

Students who are in a crisis or may have suicidality
Students who are having a normal reaction to the event
Students who want to clarify or are seeking information but have no significant reactions

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What PFA is NOT?

NOT a mental health treatment or a psychiatric intervention
NOT long-term mental health services
NOT meant to interrupt the normal and healthy reactions to an abnormal situation

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Employee Assistance Program (EAP)�Critical Incident Support for Staff

Critical Incident Support

Three hours per incident
Additional cost for an incident

Additional Support

Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is available 24/7
800-999-7222
Services are confidential
Access the EAP Website

Link to Website: AnthemEAP.com
Login code: auhsd

Sample of available resources: Grief/Loss Information:

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Debriefing after the Event

What worked during the response

What needs to be noted for further analysis to improve on response process

Self-care and well-being of staff

Debrief includes allowing staff to talk about their own reactions before and during the response

What went well and what worked during the response

Ethical decisions making in times of crisis

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Follow-up with Students/Staff

Follow-up with staff

Varies depending on the reactions by staff
His/her desire to connect

Students/families - The response team will start a list of the students receiving PFA
The site’s social worker, school psychologist, and counselors will follow with students accordingly

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Documentation

List of students seen during the response
List the actions taken with the student/family - Aeries “Counseling” Section

CODE: Crisis Prevention and Intervention

Met with student for Critical Incident Response
Contacted appropriate authorities and informed parents
Risk screening- conducted risk screening, developed safety plan, contacted parents.
Obtained needed documentation (consent, release of information, etc.)
Met with a student for an individual counseling session as requested by the parent. (this will tell you what stakeholders are in the know)

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Crisis Response Teams Members

Four levels of response systems

District Office Crisis Intervention Team
School-Based Crisis Response Team (CRT)
Districtwide Crisis Support
Regional Resource Group - Crisis Response

OCDE Crisis Response Network (CRN)

Site Team Tasks

Establish your school site crisis response team
Creating a communication system
Professional Development

Ongoing Efforts: What will be your system for reviewing crisis response efforts?

Three levels of response systems.

School-Based Crisis Response Team (CRT)

Everyone at the school site is part of the response team;. With district level coordination, the team will assign each member specific action items based on their role as employees (e.g., counselor, front office staff).

District-Level Crisis Intervention Team

The district-level crisis intervention team comprises members of the district office, representatives of school-based teams, and district-level collaborators and consultants such as personnel from the mental health agencies, training agencies, or crisis support programs from the department of education. The district-level crisis response team is responsible for establishing protocols and implementing crises preparedness and response efforts.

They support with the implementation of protocols across schools.
Coordinates and shares resources among site level teams.
The support with professional development, training, and building site level teams.

Regional Resource Group - Crisis Response

The regional team is comprised of representatives of the district-level team as well as members from mental health agencies, training agencies, or crisis support programs from the department of education. This group provides a forum for collaborating with wider crisis response network and experiences from other school systems and experts in the community. They support with trainings and resources.

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District Office Support - Crisis Response Teams

SCHOOLS	REGION A	SCHOOLS	REGION B	SCHOOLS	REGION C
Katella HS South JHS Loara HS Ball JHS Magnolia HS Dale JHS	Lorena Cortez Marissa Calderon	Anaheim HS Sycamore JHS Savanna HS�Brookhurst JHS Western HS Orangeview JHS AH ^ WH ILCs	Stephanie Felix Christina Chaturanyakoon	Kennedy HS Walker JHS Cypress HS Lexington JHS Oxford Academy Gilbert / Polaris CVA Hope	Stephanie Flores Christina Phabsomphou

Large Scale Events

District directors, coordinators, and programs administrators will support the sites.

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School Site - Crisis Response Teams

SCHOOLS	REGION A	SCHOOLS	REGION B	SCHOOLS	REGION C
Katella HS South JHS Loara HS Ball JHS Magnolia HS Dale JHS	Social worker (s) Counselors Psychologists Administrator FACES	Anaheim HS Sycamore JHS Savanna HS�Brookhurst JHS Western HS Orangeview JHS AH ^ WH ILCs	Social worker (s) Counselors Psychologists Administrator FACES	Kennedy HS Walker JHS Cypress HS Lexington JHS Oxford Academy Gilbert / Polaris CVA Hope	Social worker (s) Counselors Psychologists Administrator FACES

Large Scale Events

Everyone at the site plays a role crisis response.

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Large Scale Events

School counselors, school psychologists, administrators, FACES, etc. can volunteer to support during a large scale crisis response event.

Districtwide - Crisis Response Teams

Access the link here.

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Schools Screened

One high school HS – 9^th
Eight junior high schools - 7^th
3793 students completed the screening

Students

464 – Crisis and safety concerns

Universal Screening Results

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Planning on the dave of an event.

Critical Incident - Day of the Event Planning Doc

Three levels of response systems.

School-Based Crisis Response Team (CRT)

Everyone at the school site is part of the response team;. With district level coordination, the team will assign each member specific action items based on their role as employees (e.g., counselor, front office staff).

District-Level Crisis Intervention Team

The district-level crisis intervention team comprises members of the district office, representatives of school-based teams, and district-level collaborators and consultants such as personnel from the mental health agencies, training agencies, or crisis support programs from the department of education. The district-level crisis response team is responsible for establishing protocols and implementing crises preparedness and response efforts.

They support with the implementation of protocols across schools.
Coordinates and shares resources among site level teams.
The support with professional development, training, and building site level teams.

Regional Resource Group - Crisis Response

The regional team is comprised of representatives of the district-level team as well as members from mental health agencies, training agencies, or crisis support programs from the department of education. This group provides a forum for collaborating with wider crisis response network and experiences from other school systems and experts in the community. They support with trainings and resources.

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Thank you!

Dr. Adela Cruz, LCSW

Director, School Mental Health & Wellness

McKinney-Vento and Foster Youth Programs

Questions or Comments?