Crisis

Crisis Response Team

The Tomball ISD Crisis Team works to provide district-wide support in response to natural disasters, deaths and other traumatic events affecting students, teachers and administrators in our district community.  Hurricanes, floods and now winter storms in the Tomball area can cause physical, emotional, academic and psychological issues for those impacted.  We hope to become a source of information for teachers and parents to assist students in building resiliency and other protective factors (Warbington, Owenby, Brady, Shears, Burton, and Strong, 2019). According to Codreaunu, Clencza, and Jacobs (2014), approximately 5 – 43% of children who experience a natural disaster will experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  From the context of education, students may also experience negative academic engagement and achievement in response to a local natural disaster.  Please use the below resources to help support families and classrooms during traumatic events impacting our community.  

General Resources

Age Related Reactions to Traumatic Events

Guide to Helping Children Cope After a Traumatic Event

National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) School Safety and Crisis

School Counselors Help Build Resilience After Natural Disaster (Warbington, et al. 2019)

District and Community Resource Guide

NEED COUNSELING/ASSISTANCE? Free help for Tomball ISD Employees

WorkLifeMatters, Guardian’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) offers services to help promote well-being and enhance the quality of life for you and your family provided by Guardian. Connect to a counselor for free support services. 

• • Help with Family

  • Help with Health

  • Help with Legal & Financial

  • For details, click here.

Winter Storm 2021

Winter Storm Experience Circle Script

Remain calm and reassuring. Children take their cues from adults, especially young children. Acknowledge the loss or destruction, but emphasize the community’s efforts to clean up and rebuild. To the extent it is possible to do so, assure them that family and friends will take care of them and that life will return to normal. Acknowledge and normalize their feelings.

Allow children to discuss their feelings and concerns, and address any questions they may have regarding the event. Listen, empathize, and let their questions be the guide. An empathetic listener is very important. Let them know that their reactions are normal and expected.

Encourage children to talk about disaster-related events. Children need an opportunity to discuss their experiences in a safe, accepting environment. Provide activities that enable children to process their experiences. This may include a range of methods (both verbal and nonverbal) and incorporate varying projects (e.g., drawing, stories, music, drama, audio and video recording).

Seek the help of the school psychologist, counselor, or social worker if you need help with ideas to open the dialogue. Promote positive coping and problem-solving skills. Activities should teach children how to apply problem-solving skills to disaster-related stressors.

Encourage children to develop realistic and positive methods of coping that increase their ability to manage their anxiety and to identify which strategies fit with each situation. Emphasize children’s resiliency. Focus on their competencies.

Help children identify what they have done in the past that helped them cope when they were frightened or upset. Bring their attention to other communities that have experienced natural disasters and recovered (e.g., New Orleans, LA, Houston, TX or Joplin, MO). Strengthen children’s friendship and peer support. Children with strong emotional support from others are better able to cope with adversity. Children’s relationships with peers can provide suggestions for how to cope and can help decrease isolation. In many disaster situations, friendships may be disrupted because of family relocations. In some cases, parents may be less available to provide support to their children because of their own distress and feelings of being overwhelmed. Activities such as asking children to work cooperatively in small groups can help children strengthen supportive relationships with their peers.

Take care of your own needs. Take time for yourself and try to deal with your own reactions to the situation as fully as possible. You will be better able to help your children if you are coping well. If you are anxious or upset, your children are more likely to feel the same way. Talk to other adults such as family, friends, faith leaders, or counselors. It is important not to dwell on your fears or anxiety by yourself. Sharing feelings with others often makes people feel more connected and secure. Take care of your physical health. Make time, however small, to do things you enjoy. Avoid using drugs or alcohol to feel better.

To assist people in the impacted area in coping with the stress of the winter storms, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration activated the Disaster Distress Helpline.

• This toll-free, multilingual, and confidential crisis support provides immediate 24/7, 365-days-a-year crisis counseling and support. Residents in affected areas may call 1-800-985-5990 to connect with a trained crisis counselor. Spanish speakers should press 2.

Trauma informed training series (COVID - 19)

Trauma-Informed Training Series (For Teachers):  As a result of school closures and remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students have been at higher risk of exposure due to adverse childhood experiences and first hand exposure to the effects of COVID-19. We also know that many educators have themselves experienced a prolonged state of stress over the course of the pandemic and share many of the concerns regarding loss of safety, health and predictability as students upon the return to school.  This TEA designed course is designed to address these extraordinary and unprecedented needs and connect teachers to relevant science and strategies that can help them address their own emotional needs as well the needs of students and colleagues. This series will help educators create an environment that jump starts teaching and learning and drives student achievement.

Tomball ISD employees can access the Trauma-Informed Training Series by accessing Strive > Course Catalog > Project Restore.  Select Enroll.  The weblink for Project Restore are listed in the "Instruction Notes"