Death Walked in the Door in Wisconsin

Madison, WI
A news story out of Wisconsin tells a sad tale of a father who has allegedly killed his three daughters.  He and his wife were divorced in January, and she had custody of the children in Madison, while he lived in North Dakota.

11-year-old Amara Schaffhausen, 8-year-old Sophie and 5-year-old Cecilia

The court testimony provides some grisly details, but little illumination on why this heinous incident occurred.

The three girls attended Greenwood Elementary School, which is in summer break.  Even so, the school has opened its doors, and has provided personnel to assist people with processing their grief and shock.  It is always difficult for a school when they lose one of their own.  Losing three is a tragedy that will take some time from which to recover, especially with the incident's horrific nature.

As a society, this incident raises numerous questions that are not the purview of this blog.  Of greater concern here is how a school would begin to recover from something like this.  From the details I have gleaned, it appears that this school is off on the right track.  Serving as a source of comfort and aid solidifies the school's role in the community, and is serving as a focal point for recovery.  It appears that this school has thought ahead, and was prepared.

Are you?

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Recovery - Critical Incident Stress Management

Recovery seems to be the 800lbs gorilla in the room.  No one wants to acknowledge it, and few schools have robust recovery plans.  A few weeks ago, I found out ours weren't as robust as I would have liked.

A high school freshman got into an argument with his mother, and went up to his room and shot himself.  School administrators and teachers went to the high school late at night to open it up for students to come and share their grief.

A week after the event, I asked one of the counselors how she was doing.  Her answer?  "I'm done."  She looked it too.  There was no emotion on her face, she looked tired, and she confirmed it by telling me, "If another kid or teacher comes to me for help, I've got nothing left to give."

The responsibility for that was mine. I am the one who creates the emergency plans.  I had planned for the kid's trauma, but not the staff's.  I promised her I would get some help to her and the other counselors.  I called Beth Gulley, a Fire Safety Educator with the Sugar Creek Township Fire Department, and a friend of mine.  I told her what had happened, and she gave me the number of Russ Jarvis, a chaplain at Hancock Regional Hospital.

Russ is the head of the hospital's Critical Incident Stress Management Team.  He told me what he and his team needed, and I passed it along to the high school principal, Keith Fessler.  The bottom line was that Russ brought his team to the high school less than a week after being contacted. 

Due to confidentiality concerns, I will not share what went on in the hour-long session, but it was very emotional, and I got positive feedback from everybody.  We are trying to schedule a follow-up meeting this week, but as it's the last week of school, we'll have to wait and see.

Since then, I attended the debriefing of that session with the CISM team, and I will work with them to develop a CISM team for ourselves.

And you can darn well bet I'm reworking my recovery plans.

Mental Health Issues Emerging for Survivors of the March 2 Tornadoes

Henryville, IN
Thousands of workers and volunteers are rebuilding southern Indiana towns devastated by the March 2nd tornadoes. But, a new problem is emerging, one that can’t be fixed with a hammer and nails.
Tornado victims are working through the process of grieving what’s been lost. Project Aftermath crisis counselor Carolyn King says, “I think some of them are getting to the angry stage. They’re frustrated that this is taking so long, they don’t see things being rebuilt as fast, they’re realizing that things aren’t going to be normal again.”

King says the long term effects of this storm are just now emerging and some people are doing more than grieving, they’re suffering from post traumatic stress. “If people just keep talking about it over and over, some of that is therapeutic,” she says, “But, if they’re obsessed with it and they really can’t talk about anything else, then that’s a problem.”

Ohio School gets Rock Hall Prom Following Shooting

Cleveland, OH
A teenager seriously wounded in a deadly Ohio school shooting is among the classmates who turned out for an extra-special prom at Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Students from various schools campaigned on behalf of Chardon High School after the shooting there to help it win the annual "Rock Your Prom" contest from radio station 96.5 KISS-FM.

Chardon teens dressed in evening gowns and tuxedos for the private event on Saturday night.