Crisis Recovery Support Network

In collaboration with governors’ offices, state education agencies, local districts and postsecondary institutions, the SREB Crisis Recovery Support Network will coordinate additional counseling capacity for crisis recovery, offering year-long emotional and mental health support for students, teachers and communities impacted by tragedy.

What is the goal of the SREB Crisis Recovery Network?

The Network is intended to provide an important layer of support after a crisis at a school or college. After natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes and floods, after school shootings, and in public health emergencies, we need to make mental health recovery a priority for students, faculty and entire communities. The Network will build and share counselor experience in recovering from these tragedies, from day 3 to day 370 after crisis.

What need will the Network serve?

States, districts and postsecondary institutions frequently plan for crisis prevention and management. But they often lack the capacity to provide sustained support for their students, teachers and communities during the recovery phase. This is especially true in rural areas.

We need capacity – specially trained counselors – to  make mental health recovery a priority for a full year after the immediate response.

How will it work?

The SREB Crisis Recovery Network will build a cadre of trained counselors from each state. This will provide capacity within the state – and a pool of counselors to call on after crises in other states.

Why SREB?

The Southern Regional Education Board is a nonprofit, nonpartisan interstate compact. For more than 75 years, we have brought together states to do more together than they could on their own. From sharing uncommon degree programs to coaching teachers, building capacity and helping states share resources is something SREB is uniquely positioned to do.

What is considered a critical incident?

A critical incident will be defined as an event involving significant displacement of students from their school environment. The SREB Crisis Coordinator will work with partners to develop a set of criteria SREB will use to determine when a deployment is appropriate.

Will the Network provide therapeutic services?

No. The Network will provide psychological first aid and stabilization as opposed to long-term therapeutic services.

How will the Network work with existing state efforts?

The Network will complement existing crisis management efforts by focusing on long-term healing and psychological resilience. The Network will supplement state and local efforts by focusing on services at an individual level as students return to campus.

How many counselors will be in the Network?

The goal is to train at least 40 counselors in each of the 16 SREB states. The goal for the Network is 640 total counselors.

What training program will be used?

The Network members will be trained in PREPaRE. PREPaRE stands for Prevent/Prepare for psychological trauma; Reaffirm physical health, security, and safety; Evaluate psychological trauma; Provide interventions (and) Respond to psychological needs; and Examine the effectiveness of prevention and intervention efforts.

PREPaRE is a nationally recognized credential specifically designed to equip counselors to provide psychological first aid and stabilization support after crises in schools or colleges.

How often will the counselors be trained?

PREPaRE is a credential that must be recertified every five years. The counselors will need to be certified in psychological first aid annually.

Both initial and recertification PREPaRE training last about 1.5 days. Psychological first aid training is four hours.

Can partnering states, districts and institutions train additional counselors?

Yes. In addition to the 40 counselors per state that SREB will fund, SREB will coordinate PREPaRE and psychological first aid training to additional personnel at the district or postsecondary institution’s expense, if space is available.

What will SREB provide for the Network?

SREB will coordinate, train and deploy counselors, including:

• Fund and coordinate PREPaRE training for approved Network team counselors as long as funding remains available. PREPaRE is a nationally recognized credential specifically designed to equip counselors for support after crises in schools or colleges.
• Coordinate deployment of regional Network team counselors after significant crisis. SREB will leverage the capacity of the Network across all SREB states to support the school or institution in crisis. SREB is developing criteria to determine when cross-state deployment of Network counselors is warranted.
• Provide access to trained and experienced Network counselors to support recovery efforts after crisis.
• Cover expenses including meals, transportation and housing for Network counselors during a Network deployment.
• Coordinate with the local district, school or institution to develop the most appropriate response to meet the specific local need informed by best practices.
• Provide mental health support to Network counselors after completion of a deployment, as necessary.

What are the responsibilities of partnering districts and institutions?

The counselors of the Network will come from partnering K-12 districts and postsecondary institutions. Partnering districts and institutions will:

• Allow Network team members to respond to incidents when they are called, unless circumstances prohibit the person from leaving local duties at that time.
• Provide Network counselors professional leave for training: two days every five years for PREPaRE training and one day annually for psychological first aid training. All training will take place during the contracted workday.
• Provide professional leave for Network team members, up to 10 school days, during deployment after a significant crisis event.    

Is parental consent required for students to meet with counselors in a crisis?

Parental consent is not required for critical incident response. The network will provide stabilization in the form of psychological first aid but not long-term therapeutic support counseling or therapeutic services. Consent will be required for follow-up services scheduled for students by local counselors.  

How will districts meet their FERPA obligations?

No student information will leave the school. All notes will stay with the school’s mental health officer. This is usually the school counselor and sometimes the principal.

Who covers the salary of staff during training and deployment?

Partnering school districts and postsecondary institutions will cover the salary of the staff while on deployment and during training.

What about mental health support for Network counselors?

This is a critical component to taking care of those who care for others in need and may be impacted by second-hand trauma. SREB will schedule a debriefing with counselors following any crisis response. Additionally, SREB will include self-care strategies during team trainings and follow-ups.

Who pays housing and transportation costs during regional deployment?

SREB will provide full coverage of expenses including meals, transportation and housing for Network counselors during a Network deployment and training. 

Will counselors be effective when they can’t build long-term relationships with students?

In providing psychological first aid and stabilization, it is actually beneficial that responders do NOT build long-term relationships. Following traumatic events, students may request to speak to a counselor several days in a row. Retelling their stories and receiving support from various perspectives is beneficial. 

Crisis recovery counselors will be well-trained to identify students who need additional support and comfortable making referrals through the school-based mental health officer. 

The goal will always be for schools and colleges to return to normal as soon as healthy, so tapering support over time is necessary.  The SREB Crisis Coordinator will offer long-term support to the administrators, counselors, teachers and staff. That support is intended to build capacity so that the schools can provide that long-term support to their students.