Crisis Intervention and Appropriate Responses

Crisis Intervention and Appropriate Responses

Every day was a no rest day for a man of my calibre considering my demanding job. Every single morning I woke up to a busy schedule in the office, my lucky days were field days, which were no better than any other day in the office as I could end up as exhausted as usual. This Monday morning was no exception. Barely having enough sleep, I woke up early and drove to the office. The files I had left on my table the previous evening, were just intact waiting for my attention, and yes, another day of reading and signing illegal files for me.  Working as a loss prevention specialist was becoming a demanding job since the crime rate in the country was increasing, not to mention other disasters. Just before I could open my first file, the office telephone rang, I could feel the urgency and the tension that would come with it. Fear rose in me, and I could feel my heart racing. I gathered the courage and received the call, “reporting from Harvard school, there is a terrorist attack, help!” what I always had afraid of all along was now a reality, and I had to lead my group to go and rescue the victims.

Among the many catastrophes that would have been the root cause of the reported shootings and crisis, I was sure that the purpose of this massacre was a result of a known and feared terrorist group called “Crew snipers”. The crew had become a significant threat in the country, and they had often threatened to attack a mall or any institution of learning and cause substantial damage. I knew well enough it was my responsibility to minimize the impact of the incident in close assistance of my crew. Soon enough, I was at the crime scene with my team, fear and grief were written boldly on the victim’s faces, they were running and screaming helplessly as the gunshots made their way through the air. Without much time to spare, we were started with our mission, as the police were busy raiding the terrorists we were ensuring physical safety and first aid. My team had initially held campaigns about how to respond to crime, i.e. by training the staff in schools As well as having crisis teams.

Because this was a school for younger middle school children, they were not so well equipped with the crisis response mechanisms during and in the aftermath of the crisis.

The group first started by coordinating communications among the relevant particulars as well as controlling the rumours.  We were then able to perform first aid for the injured. We took the ones who were not hurt physically to safety. Some who were suffering due to being traumatized were made for protection for psychological first aid. The children most especially could not take away the memories of the gunshots and the images of dead people off their minds. The causalities grieved in pain and agony, bleeding their souls out. Some had fractured limbs others completely broken losing some body parts. The dead bodies were taken by the ambulances to the mortuary. The once peaceful learning environment was now filled with sirens and groans of agony.

The crowd was all over each with their particular interests. Some because their children were among the casualties, others intending to witness. We, therefore, had our next move as managing the crowd. The attack was still in progress and hence, chances were that the terrorists were still inside the building, we, therefore, made the crowd evacuate the premises with immediate effect, to prevent further causalities. The group was, however large and ambitious to getting inside with the hope of helping their loved ones out. We, therefore, had to go an extra mile of even forcing them out. Their pleas to the police officers to save their children have, however, remained in my mind to date. The media, on the other hand, was on our neck, trying their very best to get information to feed the hungry press. However, we were unable to give as much information as they may have wanted since most of the energy was dedicated to saving more lives. The lucky who were rescued were taken to a comfortable, safe place. They were provided with physical and emotional support.  At the end of it all, the terrorists managed to escape without a trace.

The aftermath of the crisis, however, affected a significant segment of the school’s stakeholders. Therefore, our work did not stop just yet. There was a need for rumour control, dealing with deadly effects and providing support for psychological support to the victims. This recovery program included preparing and circulating accurate feedback to reduce disruptive rumours. We managed by clarifying to the students and staff that the feelings they were having were natural and valid. We also had the task of reminding the victims of the available resources to all that felt that their situation needed someone with specialized skills. We also prepared handouts and circulated them to all the students and staff, informing them of what they should watch out for in the aftermath. Through the help of the teachers, we were able to implement classroom discussions and activities that gave the victims a chance to express their feelings about the incidence as a way of helping them recover from the emotional trauma.

Longer-term follow up was found necessary for the victims. These involve extended counselling and other special supports. Death is one of the most challenging losses to handle; therefore, those grieving need to experience school as a safe place to think about and express the loss they incurred. Therefore, those taking them through the process of counselling should be able to understand the loss very well and be able to encourage them to talk about what they feel. These are to avoid incidences of unspoken pain which may lead to depression and suicide. Collaboration with local schools and the community at large for crisis response was another strategy for the follow up as well as a prevention strategy.

 

Rather than putting all energy on prevention, the security of schools should be taken entirely by the government .however, strategies such as creating awareness and creating crisis mechanisms are also helpful. The country government should further spell out the procedure for schools to follow and in the aftermath of a crisis. The government must consider addressing policies and procedures on crisis intervention and approaches.