NCJ Number
185507
Date Published
2000
Length
17 pages
Annotation
School violence reduction efforts, designed to manage critical incident stress at Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, are described as a process model for other schools.
Abstract
In May 1997, a senior at Wilson High School was arrested for murder. The former honor student was charged and eventually convicted of sexually molesting and murdering a 7-year-old in a Nevada casino restroom. School counselors immediately began to formulate a plan to help the school community cope with the many and complex emotions evoked by the event. A critical incident stress management plan had already been completed. Using this plan, school counselors helped students through the crisis. The first step was to arrange a strategy meeting with school administrators to develop a school-wide response to the incident. School counselors set up a crisis center where both students and teachers could go to receive additional care. After the crisis, school counselors distributed outcome questionnaires to all students and staff who received services to evaluate client satisfaction with counseling interventions. Both students and teachers had generally positive assessments of these interventions. The mental health component of a critical incident stress management plan is discussed, questions to guide a critical incident stress management plan are listed, a prevention/preparedness plan of action and emergency actions to be taken are outlined, classroom teacher suggestions for defusing a critical incident are offered, and ways of promoting psychosocial well-being in emergencies are listed. 24 references and 2 tables