125. Crisis Prep for the New School Year

Carol: You're listening to the Counselor Chat Podcast, a show for school counselors looking for easy to implement strategies, how to tips, collaboration and a little spark of joy.

I'm Carol Miller, your host. I'm a full time school counselor and the face behind counseling essentials. I'm all about creating simplified systems, data driven practices, and using creative approaches to engage students.

If you're looking for a little inspiration to help help you make a big impact on student growth and success, you're in the right place because we're better together.

Ready to chat.

Let's dive in.

Carol: Hey there counselor friends. Welcome back to Counselor Chat.

This podcast is here to help you stay ahead,

stay calm and stay caffeinated as you navigate all things school counseling.

Carol I'm your host Carol Miller and today's episode is one we don't always want to think about,

but we absolutely need to.

We're talking about crisis prep.

Yep.

Those moments that stop you your day in its track.

The ones that don't show up on your calendar but change everything when they arrive.

Today we're going to dive into why having a crisis prevention prep plan matters,

what you can do right now to be ready,

and how to respond with care,

structure and sanity when things get tough.

We'll talk about some real scenarios,

whether it's grief, suicide risk, or behavioral outbursts.

And I'm going to walk you through what I do,

what I have on hand,

and how I stay grounded even when the unexpected comes knocking.

Let's get into it.

Here's the hard truth.

Crisis will happen.

Maybe not today,

maybe not next week,

but at some point this year. A student will lose a loved one,

another may express suicidal thoughts,

and one might explode in the middle of math class, leaving desks unturned and your heart racing.

And you can't control when crisis hits,

but you can control how prepared you are.

So let's prep your crisis toolkit.

And I'm not talking about a file folder or a spreadsheet.

I'm talking about your mental readiness,

your physical resources,

your step by step process,

and your post crisis support game.

Let's start with one of the most tender situations I think we can face.

And that's the death of a loved one.

Whether it's a parent, a grandparent, a pet, a friend,

grief affects every child differently and sometimes in waves.

Here's what I do. When I'm notified of a loss,

I have that immediate response. I connect with the student gently and privately.

But I don't force the conversation.

I just let them know,

hey, I'm here for you. And when you're ready, we can talk.

A lot of times I find that kids are either not ready to talk about it, they don't want to talk at all, they just want to go about their day,

or they have a ton of questions.

And it's also really important to be honest with them because you may not have all the answers.

They might say, well what's going to happen now?

Or what does a funeral look like?

What can I expect?

And those are just questions that you have to kind of take one by one.

And like I said, if you don't know the answer, just say, I don't know.

I also have a grief workbook and I send them home with my I have a couple. They're age appropriate grief workbooks because it gives them a space to write, to reflect,

and to process in ways that feel safe.

I even have one for the loss of a pet for my little guys because this isn't busy work,

it's healing work.

I also like to have a follow up plan.

I like to schedule some regular check ins because grief isn't a one and done thing.

It pops back up during holidays, class projects,

and sometimes even lunch table conversations.

You may know this about me, you may not, but grief is something I have some personal experience with.

I think it's one of the reasons why I am a school counselor because my father passed away when I was 10 and grief was that thing that shook me to my core.

It's something that I think I connect with kids with and at one point in time I was certified as a grief and loss counselor.

It's not my favorite work, but it's important work.

I also have outside referrals because I like to keep a current list of grief camps and local support agencies because these are especially helpful when the family is struggling themselves or when additional support is needed.

And here's another tip.

Create a grief protocol for your school and share it with your admin and your staff.

Because teachers, they often want to help but they aren't sure how.

And that protocol can guide how to talk to the class,

give space and maintain routines.

When it comes to grief,

it may not always just be about kids or their family members or their loved ones.

Sometimes grief hits our school staff family and I've know in my experiences we've lost some amazing teachers,

one to brain cancer and her kids were students in the building.

Another was a coach and I've I know that I've talked about on the podcast their stories before and how it shook our world,

but also We've had paras like some of our paraprofessionals pass away as well.

And their loss was equally as devastating.

Sometimes we have to make sure that we have hospice ready.

And I know you're probably thinking, well, hospice is the organization that comes into your home and helps you stay at home and die and dig with dignity.

But hospice also has a lot of supports when it comes to grief and offering supports. They know how to talk to people.

They are in the grieving business,

believe it or not.

So they're a good resource to have on hand besides grief,

mental health and suicide risk.

That's a tough one.

But unfortunately it's also far too common because if a student discloses suicidal ideation or you expect some self harm,

everything else really needs to stop.

And here's my protocol, here's what I do.

I get immediate coverage if I have a group or a class because I never want to leave a student in crisis alone.

I do a risk assessment with them and there are several out there. We use the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale, the cssrs.

I know some schools use their own district screener, but you need to find a risk assessment screener because you have to assess the severity.

And then it's also important to have a crisis plan worksheet because sometimes our kids are at low risk and we just can't send them to a facility. They're going to come and be with us or we're going to send them home with their parents.

So the crisis plan really talks about what are their warning signs, what coping strategies do they have, where are their safe places at school,

at home,

who are their supportive adults,

who are their emergency contacts,

and what's the plan for what to do if you start to feel unsafe.

There's also always parent or guardian contact because I always notify families and I walk them through the steps that we're taking.

It's not always easy, but it's necessary.

And if you're not sure what to say,

you can google it, you can put it through chat GPT for some talking prompts,

but you might even want to have a list kind of prepped before a phone call ever, ever has to get made.

And there's referral to mental health services.

It's going to be helpful to have a referral sheet on hand with the local therapists, the clinics, the hotline numbers,

and you should include ones that have both low cost and sliding scale options because not every family can afford mental health service.

And it also might not be a bad idea to laminate A quick response card for your desk or planner with your suicide protocol steps.

Because my friends, it sometimes is really easy to freeze in the moment.

And having a checklist really helps keep your brain from spiraling.

The last type of crisis that I think I experience a lot is behavioral explosions.

You know, sometimes the crisis is allowed,

like hallway filling,

classroom clearing,

loud.

Whether it's an aggressive outburst, there's elopement,

unsafe behavior.

Here's how I stay ready for that.

It's good to have a crisis communication plan.

And every year I work with my admin and my team to review who responds when and how.

Are we going to use the walkies this year?

Are we going to do a PA system?

Do we have designated runners?

But we have to know what the plan is and who the players are that can respond.

We also need a de escalation space. Where are we going to go?

And space in my building is tight.

I know I've shared that I share an office and we have people that are doubled up all over the place.

But having a private space for de escalation is a must.

And so you need to find it.

And in that space you should probably keep a little calm down kit,

think fidgets, maybe some visuals,

some weighted items.

I have this fish.

It's just material. It looks like a fish. It's really very cute.

And it's about maybe 18 to 24 inches long.

And it's filled with like beans or,

I don't know, corn or something. But it's really a heating pad. But it has a nice heavy weight to it and it's super cute. And I use that a lot.

I just place it right down on the kid's lap and you could just see the like relaxation just start to come.

So have something weighted in there too.

But I also work with teachers to create classroom calm spaces, especially in the classrooms where I know we have kids that escalate really easily.

And I want to have a spot for documentation. I want to have that one place that I'm going to go to to record that particular kiddo.

And after. And I'm going to do that after the student is safe. I'm going to document the incident, what led up to it, how it was handled and what follow up is needed.

Because I might need that documentation for behavior intervention planning. Because if this becomes a pattern, I'm going to start a formal plan with input from the teachers, from the family, and whatever support staff we can get a hold of.

And we're going to offer some post crisis support because we often talk about during the crisis.

But it's also important to focus on the after.

And that might mean some restorative conversations,

some social stories,

or setting clear expectations with love and structure.

I use think sheets a lot and as part of the think sheet sheet process we also have a letter that's sent home to parents about what the incident was, how it was handled.

But there's also a I'm sorry page in there where the kids can go and apologize to whoever's needs.

But in addition to just an apology, sometimes the restorative process involves some heavy conversations or maybe the kid made a mess. And part of the restorative process is to clean it up.

But we have to also offer that that post crisis support.

I do think it can be helpful to have a crisis go bag in your office as well.

This could be like a clipboard with your forms on it, maybe some tissues, stickers,

snack,

emergency snack for the kiddo, a bottle of water.

Just little things that you can put in a bag and take with you.

It's good, I think to prep a crisis toolbox. And here's a list of what you can actually start today because once the year is rolling it's harder to find the time.

Like I said, having that grief workbook. I always print out a few copies and I just keep them in my bookshelf.

I have some crisis plan worksheets that I have thrown in a drawer.

I'm not even sure where I originally got them from, but I've had them for a while and I just keep making copies of them. I think I just found them online.

It's good to also have a suicide or a self harm protocol checklist.

Like I said, keep it little.

Maybe post it like by your phone or somewhere where you can just go through it really quick.

You want to have the updated referral list for your outside resources, whether it's for grief or therapy or even behavioral support.

And you want to have those parent call scripts for suicide ideation or for grief notification.

Have that emergency contact log.

And I like to keep both digital and paper versions and maybe even some staff cheat sheets.

Who to contact when,

how should you wait? I don't like when teachers know that a kid is suicidal and they wait until the end of the period or the end of the day to come and tell me no, you need to tell me before that.

Otherwise it's hard. It's harder to get a hold of people. It's harder to do things.

I might not be able to send them on the bus and there might be issues with transportations.

So having that cheat sheet,

I think, is really important, too.

And it's also good to have some crisis response team meetings scheduled for early fall.

And while you're at it, my friends,

toss in a chocolate bar and a reminder note to breathe,

because you matter in all of this, too.

Now, look, I know crisis is hard to think about,

especially when the bulletin boards aren't even up yet and your caseload is still being finalized.

Because as of this recording,

it is the middle of summer for me and we're not even starting until September.

But the best time to think about all of this is and to prep for the storm is before the clouds actually roll in.

Because the best crisis response,

it isn't frantic,

it's compassionate, and it's prepared.

And my friends, you are the calm in the chaos.

You are the steady hand in the emergency.

You are the soft landing when a student's world has been turned upside down.

And you don't need to be perfect. You don't need to be. You just need to be ready.

And you are.

Or you will be,

starting today.

So I want to thank you for hanging out with me today because I think this was a pretty important episode of Counselor Chat.

I mean, it's not easy to talk about grief and crisis.

It's not fun, it's not the highlight of our day,

but it's the important work that we do do.

So if you found that this was helpful,

maybe share it with a colleague or maybe even play it at your next counseling team meeting so that you guys can think of ideas of how to put your own crisis response plan together.

And until next time,

take care of yourself and stay steady.

You are the heartbeat and all of this hard stuff and your preparation today is what makes tomorrow a little bit more manageable.

Until next time.

Bye for now.

Carol: Thanks for listening to today's episode of Counselor Chat. All of the links I talked about can be found in the show notes and at counselingessentials.org podcast.

Be sure to hit follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast player. And if you would be so kind.

Carol: To leave a review, I'd really appreciate it. Want to connect?

Carol: Send me a DM on Facebook or Instagram at counselingessentials.

Carol: Until next time.

Carol: Can't wait till we chat.

Carol: Bye for now.