Wise Before the Event Preventing, Managing and Recovering Critical Incidents

1
Wise Before the Event?Preventing, Managing and
Recovering Critical Incidents

• Overview
• Awful things can happen in life
• We can plan to prevent them, manage them if they
  occur and recover
• Dealing with things effectively is different
  across cultures
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD
• What do we do next?
• Contact details

2
Recovery from Trauma

• Symptoms can include sleep disorder, emotional
  changes and vulnerability, mood changes,
• Yule and colleagues looked at persistence of
  symptoms over time in children
• They also looked at different ways of dealing
  with trauma in different societies and found
  similar patterns of recovery in quite different
  ways of coping
• This is not counselling
• Different individuals have individual
  vulnerability and resilience factors

3
Critical Incident Support

• Same day EPS response
• Disengagement after 2 weeks maximum
• Support organised in accordance with critical
  incident plan
• Key elements
• Assess level of need
• Trigger appropriate response
• On the day school plan
• Support for all parts of the school community
• Time limited

4
Emergency Planning, Critical Incidents and School
Planning

• The Southwark Red Folder
• School Planning, Rehearsal and Preparedness
• Checklist of What to Do
• Red Folder
• Ring the Directors Office
• Communicate
• Plan and Implement
• Rumour, Media Involvement, Visibility
• Reach the Whole School Community
• Occupational Health or Other Support for Adults

5
Prevention, Planning and Awareness

• Near Miss Recording Health, Safety and
  Security
• Discussion with Head/Senior Management Team.
• Staff Meetings/Induction
• Safer Organisations Safeguarding, Being Safe
  Every Child Matters
• Having the Information Immediately to
  Hand/Displayed
• Regular Rehearsal

6
What Next?

• Audit
• is there a school policy/procedure?
• has there been staff discussion/meetings/training?
  
• Are the crucial numbers available?
• Where is the red folder? Who has read it?
• Has there been a rehearsal?
• Is there a near miss book?
• Has there been training on personal safety?
• What training/awareness is there of safeguarding
  issues? Is the school a safe organisation?

7
Issues and Contact Details

• We dont like to consider whats horrible in life
  but this is a danger in itself
• We can freeze and be overcome by our own feelings
  at a time of emergency but we have to manage
  critical situations for the benefit of our
  children, staff, parents and the community
• Our own moral and belief systems can be shaken by
  being close to bad things we may need an
  individual pathway for recovery and for a
  positive future
• How we feel about planning for disaster is partly
  to do with our own stories, stresses and
  emotional load
• We can all contribute to prevention
• We have to reach everyone in the school community
• Contact details Tony.tarrant_at_southwark.gov.uk