School Shootings: Prevention and Intervention in Schools

Disclaimer: The opinions and information in this article are the views of the author only. They do not represent patch.com or any other entity. This author usually writes articles about community happenings; however, in light of recent events and with the Council Rock School District adopting a new crisis model, the author felt it important to write the piece below.

With the continuation of horrific school shootings and lack of sensible gun control laws, many are asking, “What can we do to prevent such acts”? With our local school district moving forward to adopting the ALICE model of school response (https://www.alicetraining.com/; definitely a good reactive model), it is important to evaluate the elements that make up a comprehensive prevention effort, in the absence of better gun laws. It is far too simplistic to blame mental health or parenting practices on these tragedies, and in doing so, clouds public perception and direction of what can be done to minimize risk.

Now, a bit of self-disclosure…I am a school psychologist by day at a local school district (not Council Rock). I have a background in crisis prevention/intervention as well as suicidal and homicidal risk assessment. I have worked with and learned from a ton of great professionals, and through training, asking a number of questions and having done some independent research, I have arrived at a formulation of how schools can decrease the risk of a horrible tragedy like a school shooting (or suicide for that matter).

Importantly, while this article focuses on schools, there are so many other factors and entities that have great influence over helping students, including families, religious groups, teams, peers, the local community, etc. Schools should not have sole responsibility of strategically minimizing risk factors; however, for the sake of this article and topic, the focus is on what schools can do.

If I were developing plans with schools, my questions would be what proactive and reactive approaches to potential violence in the schools/suicide are in place, as a focus on one or the other would be incomplete. As per the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, school connectedness was found to be one of the strongest protective factors against a range of maladaptive issues, including suicide and violence (Resnick, Bearman, & Blum, 1997). When schools are thinking about how to increase connectedness, minimize risk factors, increase protective factors, and mitigate major crises, it is encouraged that they review what opportunities are available for kids to get involved, how teachers and school staff understand and form relationships with students, how staff redirect students, what socioemotional strategies/resources are available for students to access, how staff and students respond to warning signs, and how mental health staff in schools evaluate risk.

When looking at prevention and intervention in a leveled model, it may look like the following:

• Level 1: School/Classroom Environment (use school/teachers interchangeably)

- create a warm, inviting culture

- deliver instruction in a way that is supportive, engaging, and geared towards skill level, including opportunities for academic help

-provide opportunities for extracurricular involvement including and aside from athletics

-use a socioemotional learning (SEL) curriculum in general education classrooms, including focusing on eliminating bullying, dealing with failure, self-management, coping skills, prosocial conflict resolution, etc.

-possibly have a school-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) system in place

-make a conscious effort to increase protective factors for all students: please refer to the 40 Developmental Assets from The Search Institute for great ideas in how to increase protective factors: https://www.search-institute.org/our-research/development-assets/developmental-assets-framework/

-Work collaboratively with families, outside mental health and community resource providers, and local law enforcement

• Level 2: Access to Mental Health Resources In School

With a focus on increasing protective factors as described above, the vast majority of a student body would not require access to greater services; however, for those that do, helpful interventions may include the following:

-access to school counselor and/or school psychologist

-access to a school-based mainstay or other counselor/therapist (i.e., drug and alcohol)

-access to a school social worker

-access to facilitated conflict resolutions when issues arise

-assistance with accessing private counseling or drug and alcohol support

• Level 3: Crisis Plans and Risk Assessment

-It is best if teachers are educated on how to notice warning signs, and then directed to refer to the student’s counselor, school psychologist, social worker, or administrator when a concern arises

-Schools may even use a universal screener to try to proactively identify students at risk

-the school should have trained mental health professionals (i.e., school counselors, school social workers, school psychologists) who can conduct suicidal and/or homicidal risk assessments, with on-going training and consultation within the district

-the trained mental health staff should have a working relationship with local crisis center and/or mobile crisis team, to refer out if a student is a more serious risk

-there should be a strong and integrated relationship among the school, district administration, and local law enforcement/emergency services, with on-going crisis planning, practice, consultation, walk-throughs, interaction, support, planning, and review of crisis plans;

-all school staff and students should be trained on how to respond to a violent incident, what procedures are in place, and should practice procedures with feedback from law enforcement/emergency services

These interventions are certainly not exhaustive, but may serve as a guide to strategically think about what schools can do as opposed to focusing on what we believe is an inevitable possibility. The problem of school violence and suicide is unfortunately more far-reaching and frequent (while statistically, school violence is still relatively rare) than it should be, and calls for more intensive and global planning on both the prevention and reactive side.

Hopefully, with increased prevention, preparedness, and our fight for better gun laws, we can help reverse the trends of school violence and suicide over the long term.

In the meantime, I’ll say a little prayer for those who have lost their lives due to the cowardly and horrific acts of school shooters.

One love, and thanks for listening, Newtown!

References

-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. School Connectedness: Strategies for Increasing Protective’ Factors Among Youth (2009). Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

-Resnick MD, Bearman PS, Blum RW, et al. Protecting adolescents from harm. Findings from the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health. JAMA 1997;278(10):823–832.

-Search Institute. Developmental assets framework. Retrieved on 5/22/18 fromhttps://www.search-institute.org/our-research/development-assets/developmental-assets-framework/

-United States Secret Service and United States Department of Education (2004).Threat assessment in schools: A guide to managing threatening situations and to creating safe school climates.

Photo image borrowed from http://wlos.com/news/local/there-have-been-18-school-shootings-in-the-us-in-2018