“Counselors will be available for students when classes resume,” or something along that line is often presented as an easy way to end the report. For the many thousands of students who have returned to classes at the sites of recent school shootings such as Lamar High School in Arlington, Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas, and the Covenant School in Nashville, however, that seemingly innocuous detail represents the beginning of a new, likely scary and uncertain era in their lives.
According to Jennifer Akins, senior director of counseling for the McKinney ISD and current president of the board of directors for the Texas School Counselors Association, a counselor's role in helping kids come back to a campus that has endured gun violence is a matter of providing safety in a place that likely feels very dangerous.
“Most commonly the initial visit is about assisting students with regaining a sense of safety,” Akins wrote in an email to the Observer. “In trauma-informed models, this sense of safety is referred to as ‘felt safety,’ which is the student’s perception of both their physical and psychological safety. The counselor will also emphasize the importance of connection to supportive relationships and how to seek support when needed both in and out of school.”
Akins also said that a number of strategies may be employed, along with “specific crisis response protocols that use debriefing questions in a group setting,” in those early visits with a student. Depending on the individual case, activities such as play therapy, in which a student works with puppets or makes art, can “provide opportunities for reassurance as well as learning to recognize and express feelings,” she said.
Monya Crow, the executive director for counseling and social work for Lewisville ISD and a senator for the Texas School Counselors Association, said that adding counseling and support staff to those already on campus is an immediate necessity, as is setting up spaces for students and staff members to meet with counselors. “The goal is to provide a safe and open space where people can express their thoughts and feelings surrounding the tragedy,” Crow said.
Predictably, school counselors are now trained in the very specific realm of helping a student body cope when a shooting occurs on its campus. During the 2022 conference of the American School Counselor Association in Austin, held six weeks after the Robb Elementary massacre in Uvalde, a presentation titled “Lessons from a School Shooting” was heavily attended, according to some reports.
The ASCA website has a list of practices for counselors to employ when helping students after a school shooting, including trying to keep student routines as normal as possible, limiting exposure to the news and to “be honest with kids and share with them as much information as they are developmentally able to handle.”
An article published by the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement stresses the notion that school counselors should be a vital source of stability for students following a student shooting. Such stability is essential, according to the article, because every child recovers from such trauma in different ways.
“How long it may take for students to adjust to the loss will vary,” the article states. “But most children are not ‘over a loss’ in six months or a year. As such, appropriate services should be planned for the immediate aftermath, the months following the loss, and for the long-term.”“The goal is to provide a safe and open space where people can express their thoughts and feelings surrounding the tragedy.” – Monya Crow, Lewisville ISD
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Given the frequency with which school shootings occur in the U.S., a news cycle that spends a few days focusing on one specific tragedy likely moves on to a different story quickly. For most students, moving on from the trauma isn’t that simple. Akins said that the crisis may remind students of prior losses or even increase reactivity to other, unrelated stressors. Signs of physical stress including stomachaches, headaches or changes in appetite and sleeping patterns might also reveal themselves as a student processes a campus tragedy.
“A child’s response to scary events can vary just like ours do as adults,” Akins said. “They may fear for their own safety or for the safety of a loved one, such as a parent. Students may ask about future concerns such as when a school may reopen, or more immediate concerns such as what is happening to friends that are home with parents in the aftermath of a crisis. Children may also display behaviors that are developmentally regressive such as thumb-sucking, fear of the dark or being alone at night, or clinging to a parent (separation anxiety). Sometimes they may display confusion or not understand the permanence of death.”
A counselor’s role on campus in the aftermath of gun violence is vital, but Akins adds that a child’s home has the chance to be a place of healing as well. For the students who survive a shooting at their school and get to go home to their families, healing is a 24/7 endeavor that doesn’t wait for the next day’s bell to ring.
“Parents should be encouraged to keep the lines of communication open with their child during times of crisis,” she said. “Most parents know their child’s personality, experiences, and reactions better than anyone else. Even when kids are quiet, or struggle to use words to explain how they are feeling, parents should trust their instincts and follow up as concerns arise.”
