School counselors' preparation for and participation in crisis intervention

Professional School Counseling, Dec, 2002 by Melissa Allen, Karen Burt, Eric Bryan, David Carter, Ralph Orsi, Lisa Durkan

In the section focusing on university preparation for crisis intervention, participants were asked if they received such preparation as part of their graduate programs. If so, they reported the type of preparation (a specific class, a class from another department, integrated into course work, seminars/workshops, other). Students were asked to rate the extent to which their course work prepared them for responding to school crises (1 = not at all prepared to 5 = very well prepared). In addition, participants responded to an item that addressed if they had experiences with crisis intervention as part of internships or practica. If so, they were asked to indicate the type of crises with which they had experience.

The list of crisis topics (see Table I for the list of topics) was based on a 15-year review of crisis intervention topics presented at national convention programs of the American School Counselor Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, and the American Counseling Association (Allen, White, et al., 2001). Additional support for these topics was also evidenced by information gathered from a 31-year review of journal publications related to school crisis topics (Allen, Marston, & Lamb, 2001).

As part of the university preparation section, participants were asked about the adequacy of supervision received for crisis intervention. Also, they responded to a question that addressed who provided the majority of the supervision for crisis intervention (university faculty, site supervisor, both equally).

In the second section of the questionnaire, school counselors indicated their participation in professional development activities related to crisis intervention, selecting from a list (e.g., Red Cross first aid or CPR; local in-services, seminars, and/or sessions on crisis intervention, ASCA national conventions). Participants were provided an opportunity to list other forms of professional development. Another question addressed how the professional development experiences were provided or accessed (school district provided, personally sought, both).

Regarding school counselors' participation in crisis intervention, participants indicated whether their school or district had a crisis plan, and if so, whether it was a district-wide plan, an individual school plan, or a combination. Also, participants were asked to rate their level of familiarity with the plan (1 = not familiar to 5 = extremely familiar). In addition, participants responded to the following issues: (a) Do you have mock drills to practice the crisis plan (excluding fire drills) at least once per year? (b) Does your district/individual school have a specified crisis team? and if "yes" was reported for the previous question, (c) Are you a member of the district/individual school crisis team?

The final section addressed recommendations for counselor education regarding crisis intervention. The participants were asked to rate the importance of having one university course devoted to crisis intervention (1 = not important to 5 = extremely important). In addition, participants were asked to rank order their top three choices of topics that should be emphasized in a crisis intervention class. The list of topics was the same as noted earlier in this section.