Crisis & safety at school (for staff)

Find out now, not during a crisis

• How to reach a counselor, psychologist or administrator quickly
• Where a student can wait safely with an adult
• Where your state’s child abuse reporting number is kept
• Who is on the school crisis team
• Your school’s procedure for suicide concerns, self-harm and abuse disclosures

Psychological First Aid (PFA) was developed by NCTSN and the National Center for PTSD to help children, teens, adults and families right after a disaster or other crisis. It aims to ease early distress and support coping, without assuming that everyone will develop long-term problems.

NCTSN members and partners have adapted PFA for school staff to use after a school crisis.

The eight core actions

1. Contact and engagement: approach gently and respectfully.
2. Safety and comfort: make things safer and offer comfort.
3. Stabilization, if needed: help an overwhelmed person feel calmer.
4. Information gathering: find out what each person needs most.
5. Practical help with immediate needs.
6. Connection with social supports: family, friends, community.
7. Information on coping: explain common stress reactions and what helps.
8. Linkage: connect people with services they need now or later.

What any adult can do

• Correct rumours gently, and share only confirmed information
• Keep routines going in your space where you can
• Notice students who seem withdrawn, absent or very upset, and tell the team
• Stay with any student you are worried about until a colleague takes over

Many staff freeze because they fear saying the wrong thing. Practising a few phrases with a colleague helps them come out calmly when you need them.

Phrases to practise

• “Are you thinking about suicide?”
• “Thank you for telling me. This is not your fault.”
• “I can’t keep this a secret, because I need to help keep you safe.”
• “You’re not in trouble. I’m staying with you.”

NASP advises educators to stay calm and ask the student directly whether they are thinking about suicide. Focus on your concern for them, not on blame.

You could say

• “I’ve noticed you seem really low lately, and I care about you.”
• “Sometimes when people feel this way, they think about ending their life. Are you thinking about suicide?”
• “Thank you for telling me. You’re not alone, and help is available.”

Avoid

• “You don’t really mean that.”
• “Think of how your parents would feel.”
• Promising to keep it secret

What educators should do (NASP)

1. Remain calm.
2. Ask directly about suicide.
3. Focus on concern for their wellbeing; avoid accusing language.
4. Listen without judging.
5. Reassure them that help exists and they won’t always feel this way.
6. Supervise them constantly — do not leave them alone.
7. Remove anything they could use to hurt themselves, if safe to do so.
8. Take them to a school-employed mental health professional or administrator.

School psychologists, counselors and crisis team members are trained to do suicide risk assessments, contact parents, make referrals and follow up. Your part is to connect the student to them quickly and safely.

Self-harm is often a way of coping with feelings that seem too big, not an attempt to get attention. Students may hide it with long sleeves or wristbands, or explain away injuries.

How to respond

• Stay calm; shock or disgust can increase shame
• Speak privately and kindly: “I noticed, and I’m worried about you.”
• Don’t demand they stop or make them show you injuries
• If there is a wound that needs care, get the school nurse
• Follow your school’s procedure and inform the counselor — every time

Messages about suicide can help or harm. Safe messaging encourages hope and help-seeking, and avoids details that could put vulnerable young people at risk.

Do

• Say suicide is preventable and help works
• Share stories of hope and recovery
• Use “died by suicide” rather than “committed suicide”
• Always include crisis resources like 988

Avoid

• Describing methods or locations
• Romanticising or glamorising a death
• Suggesting nothing can be done
• Showing photos of a student who died

A student who tells you about abuse has taken a huge risk. How you respond in that moment matters. Your calm can help them feel safe enough to keep talking to the people who can help.

What to do

1. Stay calm, even if you feel shocked or angry.
2. Listen. Let them tell it in their own words.
3. Say: “Thank you for telling me. This is not your fault.”
4. Ask only open questions needed to understand the basics (“Can you tell me more?”). Don’t interview or investigate.
5. Explain honestly: “I can’t keep this a secret, because I need to help keep you safe. I’ll tell the people whose job it is to help.”
6. Write down what they said, in their exact words, with date and time, as soon as you can.
7. Report following your state law and school policy — promptly.

State laws often use words like “reasonable cause to suspect.” That means you report what you saw or heard that worries you. You do not need proof, and it is not your job to investigate or confront the family.

Good practice

• Know your state’s reporting hotline or agency before you ever need it
• Know your school’s procedure, and who to inform internally
• In many states, telling a principal or counselor does not replace your own duty to report — check your state rules
• Keep factual notes: what, when, where, exact words
• Keep information private and share only with those who need to know

Many staff feel anxious after making a report — worried about the student, the family relationship, or whether they did the right thing. Hearing about a child’s pain can also affect you over time.

What helps

• Talk to a supervisor or counselor (without sharing beyond what policy allows)
• Remind yourself: you acted to protect a child
• Use your Employee Assistance Program if you have one
• See “Caring for yourself after a crisis” in this guide

Pre-return planning

1. Name one point person to coordinate support.
2. Gather information and form a small planning team.
3. Ask the family what would help, and what the student wants others to know.
4. With the family’s permission, connect with the treatment team.

The guidelines suggest an initial meeting, usually with the student, family and key staff, to set expectations about workload, schedule, coping strategies and communication.

Questions to settle

• Which adult the student can go to, and how
• Which missed work truly matters, and which can be dropped
• What the student can do if they feel overwhelmed in class
• What to say if classmates ask
• Whether a shorter day or lighter load would help at first

Supports such as a reduced schedule or modified assignments can help. The guidelines note that more is not always better, so match supports to what this student actually needs.

Ideas

• A pass to see the counselor or use a quiet space
• A plan for catching up on work in small steps
• A regular check-in with a trusted adult
• Seating and schedule choices the student has a say in

Regular check-ins let the team see what is working and adjust supports over time.

• Notice attendance, energy and friendships, not only grades
• Tell the point person about any worry the same day
• Watch for the warning signs in “Self-harm & suicide signs”
• Step supports back slowly as the student grows steadier

Rumours spread fast on social media. The toolkit advises staff to first confirm that a death has happened, then start a coordinated crisis team response.

Key points

• Confirm the death through official sources
• Activate the school crisis team
• If the cause of death isn’t confirmed, say it is still being determined
• If the family doesn’t want the cause shared, respect that (“The family has requested that information about the cause of death not be shared at this time.”)
• Inform staff first so they are ready to support students

The toolkit recommends telling students in small groups, such as homerooms, and not over the PA system or in a large assembly. Small groups let adults see how students react and offer support.

Supporting students

• Offer small-group spaces to talk and share feelings
• Keep regular routines as much as possible
• Watch for students who may be at higher risk: close friends, those with past struggles, those who saw something
• Monitor social media for posts showing a student may be at risk
• Share crisis resources like 988

Schools should try to treat all deaths the same way. Having one approach for a student who died of illness and a different one for suicide can deepen stigma and hurt the family. At the same time, memorials should not glamorise the death, because young people can be vulnerable to suicide contagion.

Toolkit guidance

• Focus on how the student lived, not how they died
• Hold funerals and memorial services off school grounds
• Spontaneous memorials can stay for about five days or until after the funeral, then be offered to the family
• Online memorial pages should use safe messaging, be monitored by an adult, and be time-limited
• Work with the family and the student’s friends on safe, meaningful ways to remember
• Respect cultural needs of students and families

NCTSN’s framework calls for clear, well-communicated procedures to prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies. Students react in age-related ways: younger children may cling or regress, school-age children may worry about safety, and teens may withdraw or take risks.

What helps

• Reassure students they are safe now, honestly
• Return to routines as soon as possible
• Let students express feelings through talk, writing or art
• Correct rumours and misunderstandings gently
• Watch for students who struggle weeks later, and refer them

What can help

• Talk with a supervisor or trusted colleague, within privacy rules
• Eat, drink water, move and rest, even briefly
• Remind yourself what you did to help
• Use your Employee Assistance Program or a counselor if you have one

Secondary traumatic stress can leave people emotionally drained and make it harder to think clearly or care for others. The risk is higher if you are very empathetic, have your own unresolved trauma, feel isolated at work or feel under-trained.

You might notice

• Dreading work, or feeling numb
• Thinking about students’ stories when you’re trying to rest
• Irritability, poor sleep or feeling hopeless
• Pulling away from people you love

NCTSN says education, skills training and supervision together are the most important ways to prevent secondary traumatic stress.

Ideas for schools

• Debriefs or reflective supervision after a crisis
• Flexible time for staff who were closely involved
• Checking in on staff in the weeks after, not just the first day
• Covering classes so staff can take a short break

Free, confidential, 24-hour support from trained crisis counselors for anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. That includes students, families and staff.

Free, confidential support by text with a trained crisis counselor, any time of day or night.

Counselors can talk through a worry about a child and help you work out how to make a report. The hotline is not connected to 911, so call 911 if a child is in immediate danger.

Reports usually go to your state or local child protective services. Many states have their own toll-free reporting number, listed by the Child Welfare Information Gateway.

Find A Helpline is a free directory of verified helplines in over 150 countries, reachable by phone, text, chat or WhatsApp. The International Association for Suicide Prevention shares it as a way to find support.

Places to turn

• A trusted colleague, supervisor or peer support group
• Your Employee Assistance Program (EAP), if your school has one
• Your own clinical provider or a counselor
• 988, by call or text, if you are struggling