Talking to kids about violence

elping Kids During Crisis
American School Counseling Association
Try and keep routines as normal as possible. Kids gain security from the predictability of routine, including attending school.¿
Limit exposure to television and the news.¿
Be honest with kids and share with them as much information as they are developmentally able to handle.¿
Listen to kids’ fears and concerns.¿ Reassure kids that the world is a good place to be, but that there are people who do bad things.¿
Parents and adults need to first deal with and assess their own responses to crisis and stress.¿
Rebuild and reaffirm attachments and relationships.

Resources for Schools & Families

Attachment: Self Care For Educators
Resources for educators to focused on self-care and prevent Compassion Fatigue

Finding Community Resources http://www.211.org/
2-1-1 provides free and confidential information and referral. Call 2-1-1 for help with food, housing, employment, health care, counseling and more. Learn more about your local 2-1-1 by dialing 2-1-1 or by looking it up here. United Way program.


Web Sites
Talking to Children about Community Violence
From the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

PBS.org - Talking With Kids About the NewsDevelop strategies for discussing today's headlines with children. Learn how to calm their fears and stimulate their minds.

KidsHealth is the most-visited site on the Web for information about health, behavior, and development from before birth through the teen years. The site offers numerous quality articles for parents, children, and teens as well as providing resources for educators.
For Parents School Violence and the News As terrible and frightening as incidents of school violence are, they are rare. But it's natural for kids to worry. How can you help them deal with these fears?
For Teens Should You Worry About School Violence? Do you worry whether school is a safe place? Find out what you need to know about school violence in this article.

National PTAContains information about "Discussing Hate and Violence with Your Children."
School Violence Resource Center ¿The goal of the School Violence Resource Center is to help reduce violence and violence-related behavior in American schools. Resources available include a fact sheet on school violence and prevention issues, training for school resource officers and flip charts designed to serve as a quick reference for school administrators and teachers on how to react to school emergencies, including student violence, student injuries, child abduction, fire and natural disasters.¿ ¿

National Child Traumatic Stress Network-School Crisis Section
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network was established to improve access to care, treatment, and services for traumatized children and adolescents exposed to traumatic events.

Violence Prevention & Social Media - Veto Violence
Using Facebook, Twitter to raise awareness about violence prevention. VetoViolence is a project of the Center for Disease Control Violence Prevention CDC with the goal of stopping violence before it begins. The CDC provides a range of resources, tools, strategies, information, and technical assistance for combating youth violence. Join the conversation on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/VetoViolence


Sample Documents and Publications

PFA (Psychological First Aid) School Crisis brochure (.pdf):
In collaboration with the UCLA Center for Public Health and Disasters and the Los Angeles Unified School District, the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement has developed a guidance document, Psychological First Aid. This resource is part of the “Listen, Protect, and Connect” series devoted to psychological first aid for children, parents and caregivers after natural disasters for use in international sites, especially developing countries.

Guidelines for Responding to the Death of a Student or School StaffGuidelines from the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement designed to help school administrators, teachers and crisis team members respond to the needs of students and staff after a loss has affected the schoolenvironment.

Parent GuideThe National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement and the New York Life Foundation have partnered to develop a booklet providing practical advice on how parents and other adults can support grieving children.

Practical Information on Crisis Planning: A Guide for Schools and CommunitiesDeveloped by the U.S. Department of Education, this publication helps schools understand the components of crisis planning and the crisis preparedness process and provides examples of best practices.

By The Numbers ¿This article from the March/April 2007 issue of ASCA School Counselor magazine, breaks down crisis management in the schools into 10 important components, helping educators manage an otherwise overwhelming process. The author, Scott Poland, served on the national crisis teams following school shootings in Littleton, Colo.; Paducah, Ky.; and Red Lake, Minn.

Coping With the Sudden Death of a StudentA crisis handbook for schools and students dealing with death and grief. The development of this report comes from a belief that schools are a community of people who care for one another.

Culturally Competent Crisis Response: Information for Crisis TeamsThis document talks about the importance of delivering culturally competent crisis responses in our changing society. Although written for school psychologists, this document provides an excellent resource for school counselors in giving strategies and tips for effective crisis response planning and implementing.¿ ¿

Lessons Learned from the Shootings at Columbine High SchoolThis pamphlet talks about the immediate response and the long-term impact that took place in the wake of the Columbine shootings. It also discusses the human impact of both of these and how positive relationships can mediate the negative effects of this crisis.¿ ¿


Crisis & Mental Health
Please seek help as soon as possible by contacting a mental health professional or by calling the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK if you or someone you know exhibits signs of suicidal ideation.

Risk Assessment
What To Do If You Think a Person Is Having Suicidal Thoughts A clear process for suicide risk assessment

Online Co-Pilot
The online Co-Pilot provides example questions for eliciting content related to each subcomponent in the suicide risk assessment standards. Many crisis centers have placed a link on the telephone workers desktop directly to the Co-Pilot so that they can access this resource as needed.

Youth Help Lines
1-877-YOUTHLINE 1-877-968-8454 website: http://www.youthline.us

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
1-800-273-TALK 1-800-273-8255 website: http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org