Implementing a Crisis Management PlanThe purpose of this paper is to provide you an opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of how to respond to a crisis, communicate with stakeholders, and prov

Implementing a Crisis Management Plan

The purpose of this paper is to provide you an opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of how to respond to a crisis, communicate with stakeholders, and provide crisis intervention and trauma-informed care to students and faculty affected by the crisis.

Note that this assignment has two parts, as described below. This assignment meets CACREP 2016 Standards 2. F 3g, 2. F 5k, 2.F 5m, 2.F. 7c and CACREP School Counseling Standard SC. 2i, 2k.

Assignment Directions

Review Blooming Park: Tragedy at Sylvia Plath High School (linked in Resources) and complete the media activities. Then, using the information gathered in those activities, complete the following:

Assume the role of a new counselor at Sylvia Plath High School, where a popular teacher has just died in a car accident on his way to school. 

For Part 1:

Explain the crisis event, the school response, and available resources to students in a letter to parents that demonstrates critical-thinking skills.

• Draft the letter requested by the principal explaining the situation to all the parents. In the letter, outline the school’s response and provide information regarding the resources available to students both internally, through the school counseling department, and externally, through community agencies. 

For Part 2:

Examine evidence-based crisis intervention skills and strategies appropriate to the school counselor role that will support students in the recovery process.

• Discuss how to support specific students identified in the principal's e-mail. Identify the presenting issues. What services should a school counselor provide?
• Discuss how you, as the school counselor, will identify other students who may need support. Present a specific model a school counselor can use to respond to this crisis in the immediate future and subsequent weeks.
• Discuss how you, as the school counselor, will connect the students to community-based resources and help them understand the benefits.

Examine how the effects of crisis, disasters, and trauma affect diverse people across the lifespan and outline ways to mitigate those effects.

• Using evidence from the literature, discuss three potential ways a diverse person could be impacted by crisis and trauma.
• Using evidence from the literature, discuss three specific strategies to mitigate the impact of crisis, disasters, or trauma.

Submission Requirements

• Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• APA: Resources and citations are formatted according to current APA guidelines.
• Format: All assignments must be submitted in one of the three acceptable formats: DOC, DOCX, or PDF.
• Resources: Use a minimum of 5 scholarly articles.
• Length: 4–6 double-spaced, typed pages.
• Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.
• _________________________________________________________________________________________

view the email from the principal below and the student interviews:

Email from Heather Ramsey

From: Heather Ramsey, Principal

Subject: Ethical issue

I know you are new to Sylvia Plath High School, but nonetheless, I hope you share my grief and the grief of all of us in hearing the news of Andrew Smith's passing. I know that the announcement I made this morning—per the request of the family— took everyone by surprise. I know this means that you, our new counselor, will be quite busy! Andrew Smith was one of the most popular teachers in this school. Kids and parents and other teachers loved him. He was always staying after school to help out kids who were struggling in his classes. I can't even tell you what a loss this is for everyone.

Here's what I need your help with first: I need help drafting a letter to the school community. This letter will need to provide information for parents about the school response, and also include school based and community resources.

Additionally, I am personally concerned about several students on your caseload, and I would like for you to reach out to them personally. They are:

• Tyler Smith. Tyler is Coach Smith's stepson. He's a junior, a straight-A student, and the captain of the soccer team.
• Amir Malik. Amir is Tyler's best friend. He's a sophomore. Amir has learning disabilities and has been in special education inclusion since middle school.
• Riley Hanson–Jones. Riley is also a good friend of Tyler's. She's a junior and also is an excellent student. Riley is very quiet, and I get the sense there are some issues in her home life.
• Daniel Kirschbaum. Daniel is a junior, and he's also on the soccer team. Sadly, he also lost his father in a car accident recently. I should mention that Daniel's father was a good friend of mine, and I'm very concerned with how this incident will affect Daniel.

Since you're new, I think it would also be helpful to speak with two teachers who know these students well: Jane Vang, who teaches math, and Cody Glotzer, who teaches PE and is the assistant soccer coach.

Thank you so much for your help!

Warmly,

Heather

______

Interviews

Tyler Smith

Student, Junior

Look, I'm fine. My mom wanted me to come to school today to keep things normal—and that's fine with me. I need to be strong for her so she doesn't have one more thing to worry about. I can handle this better than she can. I know you might have heard that my stepdad and I had a fight and weren't speaking to each other, and that's true… but it's not a big deal. We got along fine. I hear they've taken the driver of the car that killed my stepdad into custody. I want to go down to the police station after school and get a good look at him. They better not leave me in a room alone with that guy, if you know what I'm saying. Someone told me that he ran a stoplight, and if that's true—well, he's not going to get away with that. I'd like to take a pipe to that guy's head a few hundred times, that's what I'd like to do!

Amir Malik

Student, Sophomore

Tyler's my best friend. I'm really worried about him. He's acting like everything's okay, but it's not. I don't know why he doesn't just go home. I know I wish that I could go home. Coach Smith was the best teacher I ever had. He helped me out a lot this year in American history. I have reading disabilities and I almost failed social studies last year. But this year was a lot better because Coach Smith always went out of his way to help me. And not just because I'm on the team. He helped everybody. I don't know who's going to be teaching history now, but I hope I don't fail. Man, it feels like the whole school is freaking out about this. Everywhere I go, there's kids crying. It's rough.

Riley Hanson–Jones

Student, Junior

I knew Coach Smith real well. I was the soccer team manager. Tyler was so lucky that he got Coach Smith as his stepfather. I have a stepfather too and he's… well, he's not that nice. He's been married to my mom for about a year now. And he was kind of nice to me when they were dating. At least back then he didn't… well, you know. He wasn't on my case so much when I did something wrong. He's real particular with how he wants things in the house, and I'm kind of a slob, I guess. So, he gets really, really mad at me when I leave stuff laying around the house. I mean, I know. I shouldn't do that, so it's my own fault. My mom keeps warning me that if I don't put my stuff away my stepdad is going to… well, you know. I wish she would stand up for me, but I guess she really can't. Before we started living with him, we didn't have a lot of money and sometimes we didn't have enough to eat, and once we were even living in her car for a while. But I'm super sad about Coach Smith because he was pretty much the only person I could talk to about stuff like my stepdad. I talked to him a few days ago, and he said he was going to make an appointment for my mom to come in and talk about the way he treats me. But now I guess I just have to deal with things on my own. I know this sounds really, really bad – but if someone's stepfather had to die, I wish it were mine and not Tyler's.

Daniel Kirschbaum

Student, Junior

Yeah, I guess Principal Ramsey wanted you to talk to me, right? Because my dad died in a car accident too? I guess I am kind of freaked out. Mr. Smith was my social studies teacher… I've had him for the past two years. And he was really nice to me. After my dad died, he told me I could come talk to him whenever I wanted about stuff. And I did a few times. Well, maybe more than a few times. I was talking to a therapist for a while. But my family doesn't have a lot of money—especially after my dad died – so I couldn't go anymore. And I was really depressed after my dad died. They were going to put me on some medicine to make me less depressed, but like I said, we couldn't afford to go anymore, so that never happened. But I was starting to feel better. Not so depressed anyways. But now… I don't know. I haven't thought about the day I found out about my dad dying in a while. But today I can't stop thinking about it again.

Jane Vang

Math Teacher

It's always hard when something like this happens. But with Andrew Smith, it's even worse. It's hard to get anything done because nobody can concentrate. Kids are crying. Teachers are crying. Andrew was that kind of teacher – the one who went out of his way for everyone? He's the guy who welcomed new faculty, and broke up fights in the cafeteria, and always noticed if a kid wasn't doing so well. As the school counselor, you're going to need to help these kids. I hope you've spoken to Tyler. I heard him saying that he wanted to kill the other driver. I don't blame him for being angry, of course – but I'm very worried about him.

Cody Glotzer

PE Teacher

I'm definitely concerned about Tyler. I can't begin to imagine what he's going through right now – it's just shocking. Tyler's the kind of kid who's calm under pressure and doesn't let things get to him—or at least he acts like things don't get to him. I think he should go home, at least for a few days. But his mom said she wanted him to stay in school to try to keep things as normal as possible. I don't buy that he's holding it together as well as he's acting—I mean, how could he be? Also, I guess I should mention this: Tyler and Coach Smith haven't been getting along so well since the coach married Tyler's mother last semester. They had some kind of fight last week. I don't know all the details. But it had to do with a scholarship offer for Tyler to go to England and play soccer, and I don't think Coach Smith was on board with that. So my guess is that Tyler's harboring a lot of guilt. I'm not sure if they were even on speaking terms when Coach Smith died, and that's a heavy burden for a kid to bear. As for the other guys on the soccer team – well, you can imagine how they feel. Andrew was the kind of teacher that kids went to with their problems, and now that he's not here anymore, they feel lost. Have you talked to Riley Hanson–Jones, by the way? She's our team manager. I know that she was talking to Andrew about some issues at home, and… well, I've noticed a lot of black and blue marks on her. And I've noticed how withdrawn she's gotten lately. You should follow up with her.