Citation

Weist MD, Sander MA, Lever NA, Rosner LE, Pruitt DB, Lowie JA, Hill S, Lombardo S, Christodulu KV. J. School Violence 2002; 1(4): 5-31.

Affiliation

Center for School Mental Health Assistance, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 680 West Lexington Street, 10th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21201

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1300/J202v01n04_02

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The events of September 11, 2001, have underscored the mental health needs of youth and families, and amplified the advantages of proactively bringing a range of mental health services to them, where they are, in natural settings such as schools. Further, there is increasing momentum for the enhancement of coordinated and comprehensive school-based approaches that seek to effectively respond to significant crises such as terrorist attacks and disaster. This article explores key themes related to school mental health's response to terrorism and disaster. Following review of background literature on child and adult reactions to trauma, we discuss the development of crisis response teams, and present a range of strategies for schools to respond to crises and disaster. The experiences of one elementary school in responding to the events of September 11 are presented, followed by review of critical challenges facing schools and school mental health programs in improving their ability to respond to significant crises.