Crisis Response Notes

In March of 2020, I went digging for information on best practices for supporting kids through the unfolding and ongoing crisis of the coronavirus’ arrival in NYC. Yesterday, January 6th of 2021, I pulled my notes back out to plan my response to the storming of the US capitol. I would love to feel confident I won’t need them again quite so soon…but…it seems likely that I will. Here are the basic notes informing how I go into school post-crisis:

From Dr. Ann Masten’s Coursera Course “Resilience in Children Exposed to Trauma”

After rescue and preservation of life, 5 guiding principles of disaster response (Hobfall study 2007) are (1) promote a sense of safety, (2) offer calming, (3) promote self-efficacy and collective-efficacy if applicable, (4) offer connection, and (5) offer hope. Additionally, monitor children’s exposure to distressing aftermath and media. This includes being mindful of what you are watching/reading in common spaces you share with them.

Protective factors include positive parenting, family support, normalized daily life, opportunities to learn/work/contribute to clean up and response efforts, community support, sources of faith/hope, and drawing on relevant cultural/religious practices.

From Atul Gawande’s “Being Mortal”

Questions to ask include: What do you want to know? How do you currently understand the situation? What’s important to you? If you’re afraid, what are you afraid of?

Listen. Helpful responses to “I am worried” can include validating the seriousness of the worry and of the situation, acknowledging where there is uncertainty, and offering reassurance that you’re there for them and on their side.

From John’s Hopkins RAPID Psychological First Aid Coursera course with Dr. George Everly Jr.

Offer language to name feelings. Prioritize comfort. Give reminders that sadness/trouble sleeping/anger/etc. are all valid and normal reactions.

What people need most is to be listened to. To feel valued, understood, and appreciated. Be present. Practice reflective listening while avoiding making the conversation about you or jumping into “fixing” things. Offer accompaniment, not unsolicited advice.

To stabilize: remove provocative cues, encourage a task that requires focus (like cooking or doing puzzles), allow catharsis (like yelling, running, dancing), delay impulsive acts, and use distraction (like an old favorite movie). To mitigate distress once stabilized: educate and guide, normalize their emotional and physical responses, reassure and give hope, practice stress management techniques, correct misinformation, and reframe unhelpful stories. Throughout the crisis and its aftermath, remember that social support is the single most powerful predictor of resilience.

There’s more, but that’s the big stuff.

We’ll probably start by gathering information about what folks in the room understand about what happened, discuss how they’re feeling about it, together weave it into a story that helps them make sense of it while also giving enough historical comparisons to shrink the feeling that this is a huge and never-before-encountered unique kind of stress that they’re facing, brainstorm what we think would help the world and what we can do in our homes and relationships to be the change we want to see, and end with some sharing of grounding exercises — drinking water and focusing on the sensation/taste completely, box breathing, humming/sighing and shaking the tension out of our bodies, exploring each of our senses, etc.