Crisis Management in Schools Training for European School Psychologists
Trento, Italy, September 20 – 26, 2003
Up on the edge of the hill, in beautiful Trento, Italy, in a cloister-like hotel, 27 school psychologists from seven different countries met in a week-long seminar to learn about crisis management in schools and how to deal with trauma victims.
The conference was organized by FELS (an initiative group of teachers, parents and students chaired by Bernhard Meissner) as a joint venture with the Bavarian School Psychology Association and the European Committee of ISPA (chaired by Helen Bakker from the Netherlands). The seminar was funded for Western European school psychologists by the European Union and facilitated by Bernhard Meissner and Arthur Englbrecht, two very accomplished psychologists from Bavaria. Presenters included Dr. Yehuda Shacham and Dr. Shulamit Niv from Israel, Prof. Bill Pfohl from Western Kentucky University in the USA. Lena Vogt presented the crisis response model from Erfurt, Germany.
27 participants were trained for first-aid in crises in schools. 13 came from Germany, 6 from the Netherlands, 3 from Switzerland, 2 from Poland, 1 from France, 1 from the UK, and one guest came from the USA. To satisfy all learning styles, the material was presented in a variety of ways. Participants enjoyed PowerPoint presentations, took part in small and large group discussions, role-playing, and hands-on activities. Much discussion and synthesis took place after hours as well.
After the warm-up activities, a presentation on a conceptual framework for dealing with crisis, focusing on the WHAT schools can do BEFORE, DURING and AFTER a crisis, was introduced. Participants had an opportunity to crystallize their thoughts in small groups and to organize the information for the next workshop.
Days two and three were led by the Israeli team from Kiryat Shmona. Shulamit and Yehuda presented the BASIC-PH model and the circles of vulnerability and support, vital tools for intervention teams to help victims cope with crises and trauma. The BASIC-PH-model identifies the expressive channels of those affected by trauma. This integrative model allows helpers to better serve the victims by identifying their strengths and focusing on existing internal resources to help them through the trauma. Using this approach, the trauma victim is slowly integrated back into a world of relative safety and predictability. During this module, participants were actively involved working in groups creating posters of the expressive channels, using paper, glue and pictures. This exercise highlighted the importance of therapeutic activities in the recovery process. (For more information on this approach, readers are encouraged to visit www.icspc.org).
Day three and four were led by Professor Bill Pfohl. Bill presented the NOVA model of crisis intervention (National Organization for Victim Assistance: www.try-nova.org). After a brief presentation of the basic approach, Bill was able to demonstrate the Group Crisis Intervention (GCI) process with a group of volunteers. Later, participants were able to form groups and practice the specific strategies offered by this approach. This exercise was done in the native language of the participants with coaching from the conference facilitators. Prof. Pfohl also presented specific the sequence of events of the Flint Michigan shooting, where he was the NOVA team leader, and described how the team handled this tragedy, and how they dealt with the media.
Lena Vogt, who organized the intervention plan for the Erfurt massacre, conducted another informative presentation. This overview illustrated the importance of cooperation between the various community resources and how they relate to each other in times of crisis.
The final day was a day of synthesis and integration. Teams from various countries were given an opportunity to collaborate on how to establish crisis intervention teams in their respective countries. Teams were able to devise tentative plans of how they will take this information and implement it in their countries. The participants decided to inform each other about their plans to establish crisis intervention teams in their regions or countries. Some of the handouts and PowerPoint presentations will be translated into English, German and Dutch, and made available through the Internet. The team from Holland decided to include their national organization for Psychologists and write an article about the topic. They also plan to organize a one-day national symposium next year. (Please contact Wil at wkoning4@freeler.nl for more information).
The overall conference was of tremendous value to all participants. They left with a feeling of being a part of a dedicated group who will provide a much needed service in our schools. Participants felt that they gained not only knowledge and skills to deal with trauma victims, but also a network of caring school psychologists, who promised to build on this experience and to continue to provide top quality services to all children and their families.
I hope that we will all meet again at the next ISPA colloquium in Exeter, England, in July, 2004.
Submitted by Souhail Kassabri,USA. (skassabri@cox.net)
Click here to see pictures taken at the seminar.