Mental health challenges are on the rise among today's youth. Recent reports have noted an acute and significant need for school-based mental health education and supportive interventions for children and adolescents. Among these approaches, a growing focus has centered on improving students' mental health literacy (MHL) as a foundational…

Red Flag Reclaiming Interventions are used with students who import problems from the home or community and display them in another setting. This article describes how an incident of violence in the community created a crisis in the classroom. A Life Space Crisis Intervention (LSCI) was used as a student learns to communicate about conflicts…

This paper is the result of a voluntary service-learning component in a qualitative research methods course. For this course, the service-learning project was the evaluation of the benefits to volunteers who work a crisis hotline for a local crisis intervention center. The service-learning course model used in this paper most closely resembles the…

Brief information is presented about life-threatening traumatic injuries (blunt trauma and penetrating injury) which may occur in the classroom and on how teachers can respond before medical help arrives. Suggestions include evaluating the student's responsiveness, checking breathing ability and circulation, and keeping the situation as calm as…

Teachers can help children cope with the loss of a parent or friend in two ways. Discussion about death can be integrated into the curriculum on an ongoing basis. Teachers can help students with the tasks of mourning: understanding, grieving, commemorating, and going on with life. (IAH)

The prevention, prediction, and management of crises with students having emotional/behavioral problems is addressed. Three phases of crisis management are identified: precrisis, during the crisis, and postcrisis. Techniques to reduce the frequency of behavioral crises and effective interventions are suggested. (DB)

Describes the importance of developing a school violence prevention and crisis response plan, explaining what an effective plan should include; how to establish a school-based team; essential components of a crisis response plan; how to ensure safety via contingency provisions to the crisis response plan; and how to handle the crisis aftermath. A…

Presents lesson plans that have students explore and discuss various aspects of adolescent suicide as a means of coping with their depressive or suicidal feelings and as a preparation for them to help their peers. Each plan contains goals, objectives, activities, and suggested evaluation. Teacher information is included. (CT)

This article offers teachers basic information needed to prevent and manage aggression in children and youth. Information is provided regarding stages of crises, effective strategies for each stage, and prevention strategies designed specifically for public school classrooms. Policies and procedures to address the needs of aggressive students are…

Information to help teachers recognize the potential for suicide among hearing impaired and other students is presented. The "Suicide Decision Tree" emphasizes six important content areas (verbal signs, behavioral signs, stressors, past history, suicide plan, and resources) throughout a three-part process of monitoring, investigating, and…

Teachers and administrators need to know some general guidelines for breaking up conflicts involving students who are out of control and fighting. Every school should have a clearly communicated student behavior code and have guidelines and procedures to handle emergencies. (MLF)

Describes how teachers can equip students to deal with disaster, focusing on coping with earthquakes. The article suggests watching for symptoms, encouraging expression, providing concrete information, helping soothe parents, developing emergency plans, holding emergency drills, and developing a communication strategy. Tips for before and after…

Argues that teachers should lead their students to a broader study of people and their needs. Offers strategies that can be used in social studies classes to help students become aware of crisis situations and how to deal with them. (FL)

Described are positive classroom practices used for behavior management at a child development center, including proximity control, signal interference, touch control, decoding skills, antiseptic bouncing, planned ignoring with positive reinforcement, and supporting cooperative play. Also described is a situational crisis controlled through use of…

Discusses how teachers can help children who are struggling with loss. Suggestions include creating links with families, making time to talk, enforcing loving limits, keeping administrators informed, creating a sense of community within the class, assigning the children new roles, and teaching the children about therapeutic reading, writing, and…