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Houston Schools Closed: What Happens When Schools Restart?

 

Many schools in the Houston area are closed due to the storm, Harvey.  http://www.chron.com/news/hous...Houston-11955289.php.

Re-start dates are different from school to school; so the comments here are designed to get administrators, teachers and parents and community members including mental health personnel and clergy, thinking NOW about how students will respond to the re-opening of schools.

To be sure, the level of damage and harm depends on the area. Some students will have lost their homes; others will be temporarily dispossessed.  Many possessions will be lost.  Some students have had to be rescued. Others have moved to new locations and unfamiliar settings. Some have left the area altogether to be with family in other cities/states.  Disruption is the order of the day.

Many students will be profoundly impacted by the events of the past few days and the days to come.  There is no one answer to how to re-open schools post a traumatic event that has affected millions.  Indeed, that is part of the complexity of things -- there is so much that is person-specific.  And, for those with existing high ACEs, the issues are magnified.

But, don't give up.  I have been part of an institution that closed and re-opened post 9/11 with all of the trauma of that event  (which is obviously not a perfect analogy).  So, here are three suggestions for helping students of all ages and stages decrease their anxiety and enable the school year to be a productive -- albeit a changed one).  

1.  Talk about what has occurred. Do not pretend it did not happen. Denial does not work. And, it is not as if one should just open the books and start with the previous curriculum as if there were no disruptions.  

Consider adding material that allows insight into the types of events that occurred.  Try  materials on weather and meteorology.  Get local weather broadcasters to appear in the classroom to look at maps and weather.  Look at literature (with older students) that deal with weather events with positive outcomes -- yes really.  It is way better to find a way into the feelings and events than to deny that something has happened.  

2. Arrange to have mental health personnel available and not just for students. Teachers, administrators and parents will need support too -- for themselves and for their children.  There will, I am sure, be a shortage of such individuals but consider the possibility of teams coming from other regions of the US.  And, these need to be individuals trained in trauma and trauma recovery.  And, they need to be present for weeks -- really weeks.  And this is true for schools serving the youngest to the oldest students.

3.  Talk about the future and enable students to help build that future -- literally and psychologically. They can help re-paint walls. They can help put books back in the library or even rest the books outside to dry. They can make murals on walls to showcase feelings. They can read books and stories about recovery of people from all sorts of trauma -- not just weather related. There is a rich and thoughtful non-fiction literature about moving forward and overcoming trauma.

But the key advice is to plan now -- as the flooding and catastrophe is happening.  Be ready to re-open --- not just the doors.  There needs to be a re-opening of minds and feelings and the development of coping strategies -- for everyone.

 

 

 

 

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Hi Karen

You're right on point with all the very important steps you've provided. I'm a clinical physiologist and disaster subject matter expert (SME), who specializes in design and development of K-12 trauma informed disaster literacy.

Having worked extensively with City, State and Federal Government stakeholders in developing protocols, programs and action plans for returning traumatized kids and adults to their homes in New Orleans post Hurricane Katrina, I experienced first- hand the short memories and life cycle of support when catastrophic disasters occur.

My primary concern is during Hurricane Katrina response once the immediate response was over and the spotlight was off of the response and recovery efforts the impact of the storm on the kids was not addressed.

Families will be busy rebuilding their professional and personally lives. The teachers and school administrators will be busy attending to the business of educating the students, then going home and dealing with their personal recovery so someone has to engage and integrate trauma informed solutions to the school(s) administrators, staff and students so the effects are mitigated without undue stress, lessen miscommunication and for better outcomes.

During the recovery efforts of Hurricane Katrina my team worked with educators in assisting students in re-establishing their academic studies while simultaneously rebuilding their shattered lives, here, I saw first-hand how students struggled through a multitude of traumas relating to the storm, and how it influenced their learning environment and process.

 The sheer size and scope of the Katrina impact on children forced my team to think of new and creative solutions to address the multitude of needs. The PrepBiz project is an outgrowth of the ramifications witnessed in New Orleans as a solution to help kids build resilience, and greater self-confidence for empowerment for better outcomes in disasters and to ameliorate trauma some youth experience post event and to provide greater psychological awareness to other adverse childhood experiences.

With the frequency and intensity of disasters increasing and more kids being affected by school shootings, increasing acts of terrorism, rising crime and the lingering aftermath of disasters, we face a growing public health crisis caused by trauma that touches us all. The future of any society depends on its ability to foster the healthy development of the next generation.

Evidence suggests parents and schools should not wait to deal with the enormous difficulty of explaining disasters or hazards to kids for the first time after they occur.  Disasters are calamitous events, traumatic and customarily outside the scope of normal human experiences and likely to involve psychological and physical injury. Children are uniquely affected by disasters because they are afflicted not only by the trauma of the event but also by their parents' fear and distress.

Given that natural disasters have increased in frequency and intensity, the need for both present and future generations to actively undertake emergency preparedness and hazard awareness activities has heightened in recent years.  

Take a moment and check out our website at http://www.prepbiz.us/ we have some of our trauma informed educational materials posted on the site as well as a demo of a disaster chat bot talking to a kid about her fears of fire. 

 We are currently working with Charter Schools here in New Orleans, as well as several large home school networks providing youth trauma informed solutions,  tools, and materials.  

 I would welcome an opportunity to speak with anyone to provide additional insight and information regarding our efforts to educate all youth on trauma informed disaster literacy for greater resilience and greater psychological awareness for better outcomes.

Thanking you in advance

Kenneth Bibbins          Founder/CEO          PrepWorld LLC          www.prepbiz.us

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