SUPPORT AFTER CRISES Playlist
Professional Development > Learning Paths > School Mental Health Readiness
If you were involved in a disaster such as a hurricane, flood, or a school shooting, or another traumatic event like a car crash, you may be affected personally regardless of whether you were hurt or lost a loved one. You can be affected just by witnessing a disaster or other traumatic event. It is common to show signs of stress after exposure to a disaster or other traumatic event. Knowing what signs to look for in children and youth is important.Â
But remember, research tells us that just one positive, caring adult can dramatically improve the outlook of a child who has experienced a traumatic event. Children who have experienced trauma need comfort. Often, they need help to manage their emotions and to calm themselves down. Creating a safe environment is one of the most valuable components in re-establishing a sense of security and stability for a child.Â
For information specific to newcomers and LGBTQ+ youth, go to Topic – Youth Mental Health Crisis (link to this landing page)  Bookmark these pages and use these resources to help you and your school team to be prepared in times of crisis.Â
This learning module provides an overview of Psychological First Aid: Listen, Protect, Connect, Model & Teach strategy, an adaptation of PFA for schools. PFA is an evidence-informed, modular approach anyone can use to assist students who have experienced disasters or school crises in meeting their needs and accessing resilience. Download the 2nd edition PFA Field Guide here Psychological First Aid (PFA) Field Operations Guide: 2nd Edition | The National Child Traumatic Stress Network
Thanks to the Center for Resiliency, Hope, and Wellness in Schools for collaborating on this course, with special thanks to Pamela Vona, MA, Marleen Wong, PhD, and Vivien Villaverde, LCSW. You can check out their website here.Â
- 60 minutes
This is a free app to have on your phone to provide information about stress reactions, ways to support, and provider self-care at your fingertips. PFA Mobile was designed to assist responders who provide psychological first aid (PFA) to adults, families, and children as part of an organized response effort. This app provides responders with summaries of PFA fundamentals, PFA interventions matched to specific concerns and needs of survivors, mentor tips for applying PFA in the field, a self-assessment tool for readiness to conduct PFA, and a survivors’ needs form for simplified data collection and easy referral.
Go to the App Store on your phone and search “PFA Mobile” and look for their green icon seen here. PFA was created by VA’s National Center for PTSD in partnership with the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) and DoD’s National Center for Telehealth & Technology.
- 5 minutes
 The ASCA’s page on responding to gun violence and school shootings has loads of relevant resources to support children and youth after crisis.Â
- Try and keep routines as normal as possible. Kids gain security from the predictability of routine, including attending school.
- Limit exposure to television and the news.

- Be honest with kids and share with them as much information as they are developmentally able to handle.
- Listen to kids’ fears and concerns.
- Reassure kids that the world is a good place to be, but that there are people who do bad things.
- Families and adults need to first deal with and assess their own responses to crisis and stress.
- Rebuild and reaffirm attachments and relationships.
After a School Shooting Resources – American School Counselor Association (ASCA
- 5 minutes
Young children, toddlers, and preschoolers know when bad things happen, and they remember what they have been through. After a scary event, we often see changes in their behavior. They may cry more, become clingy and not want us to leave, have temper tantrums, hit others, have problems sleeping, become afraid of things that didn’t bother them before, and lose skills they previously mastered. Changes like these are a sign that they need help. Print out this helpful checklist from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, which is available is several languages.
After a Crisis: Helping Young Children Heal | The National Child Traumatic Stress Network
- 5 minutes
This handout from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network is geared toward caregivers and describes how young children, school-age children, and adolescents react to traumatic events and offers suggestions on how parents and caregivers can help and support them.
Age-Related Reactions to a Traumatic Event | The National Child Traumatic Stress Network
- 5 minutes
The Coalition to Support Grieving Students is a unique collaboration of the leading professional organizations representing classroom teachers (including teachers, paraprofessionals, and other instructional staff), principals, assistant principals, superintendents, school board members, and central office staff, student support personnel (including school counselors, school nurses, school psychologists, school social workers, and other student support personnel), and other school professionals who have come together with a common conviction: grieving students need the support and care of the school community.
- 15 minutes
This handout from SAMHSA provides information on common reactions to disasters and traumatic events, and practical ways to relieve stress.
Tips for Survivors of a Disaster or Other Traumatic Event: Managing Stress
- 5 mins
More than 400 million children live in areas currently affected by violent conflict, and 35 million have been forcibly displaced. Climate disasters and natural emergencies, too, are upending landscapes and communities and quickly becoming the leading driver of migration. Families experiencing conflict or crisis face big changes and challenges. Sesame Street’s resources deliver immediate comfort, early learning, and nurturing care to young children and their caregivers — in 7 languages.
New Resources for Families Affected by Crisis  – Sesame Workshop
- 20 mins
During disasters, attention is needed to promote equitable identification of mental health needs and linkage to services, particularly for minoritized groups and children living in rural, frontier, and high-poverty areas. Strategies to address children’s mental health needs during disasters include the provision of psychological first aid, screening for and triaging mental health needs, and stepped care approaches that progressively allocate higher-intensity evidence-based treatments to children with greater and enduring needs. This article from AAP Journal of Pediatrics summarizes the latest evidence on how health systems can effectively address children’s unique developmental, social, emotional, and behavioral needs in the context of disasters.
- 20 mins
- Readiness & Emergency Management in Schools (resources)
The Technical Assistance Center and Office of Safe and Supportive Schools produce a variety of publications and guidance documents in collaboration with Federal partners and practitioners in the fields of school and higher ed safety, security, emergency management, and preparedness. Find fact sheets, sample annexes, technical assistance snapshots, resource lists, flyers, newsletters and announcements, guidance documents, and more.
- 15 minutes