Reinforce the Skills
Using the SECOND STEP Program in Crisis Situations
The SECOND STEP program can be used to create structure and a common language of empathy, respect, and problem solving for all children in your classroom during a crisis, such as we experienced with hurricane Katrina.
However, it is important to be sensitive to the emotional needs of traumatized children during SECOND STEP discussions. The following guidelines can help in using the SECOND STEP program within a classroom that may include traumatized students.
- Support children's sense of control with a balance of structure and flexibility.
- Project hopeful assurance while providing honest answers.
- Keep your explanations developmentally appropriate.
- Keep the focus for traumatized children on encouraging cognitive rather than emotional responses. Making plans, thinking about concrete steps to take, and focusing on the competence and resilience that children and adults have demonstrated will help children feel safer in the short term.
Making Use of Empathy Lessons
When used with sensitivity, SECOND STEP lessons can help children reveal their concerns and fears. Empathy lessons provide opportunities for teachers to model coping responses in dealing with their own difficult emotions.
When conducting lessons, reframe questions about emotions to be general instead of directed specifically at a child. Instead asking a child what he or she specifically is worrying about, you might ask, "What do you think kids are worried about?" Allowing children to think in terms of giving information about other kids allows them to tell you personal fears without having to "own" them right away.
The Crisis Management Institute suggests making statements of assumption and gives the following examples: Often when we ask, "Are you worried?" a child will say "No." But if we ask the same child, "All of us are worrying about things right now. Several things. Sometimes it is helpful to just focus on one thing instead of a whole bunch. If you were to think about what bothers you the most, what might that be?"
SECOND STEP emotion and anger management lessons can help kids identify cognitive ways to deal with their complex emotions about traumatic events, and SECOND STEP problem-solving lessons can help them break things down into manageable steps. All of these things may be helpful to children in crisis situations.
By Sheryl Harmer, Ed.D.