A REVIEW OF TRAGEDY AND TRAUMA WEB-SITES

www.ed.gov/inits/september11/index.html

This web-site is from the Department of Education, and gives lots of simple, general, practical information on helping children and families through crisis and tragedy.  First, the department gives suggestions for parents and educators to help kids express their feelings, assess how safe they discern they are, and how to openly listen.  Secondly, they suggest addressing issues of ethnicity, the democratic principles of the U.S., and judging people as individuals, based on their actions not their appearance.  This advice is particularly geared towards the September 11 attack.  Finally, the site gives concrete suggestions of donation and volunteer activities that students can become involved with to be active helpers and gain a heightened sense of self-efficacy.

www.schoolcounselor.org

This is the site for the American School Counselor Association, and is very comprehensive in its focus.  There is a downloadable "Crisis Response Guide".  There is also a specific time-line for dealing with tragic days/events, a hand-out for teachers, symptomatic responses to look for in children, and suggestions for helping students cope and creatively express feelings and help those in need.  Also, there is a very important section that deals with something that may often get overlooked – how to help teachers, staff, and parents with their coping mechanisms and reactions.

www.aamft.org

More like a links page that a content site, this address will give you links to more detailed information on many specific topics that are related to trauma and tragedy.  Some of these topics include crisis training, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, grief and compassion fatigue, and developmental differences and strategies for K-12 aged students.  Perhaps most importantly, this site contains a link for survival strategies for the practitioner/counselor to use for themselves.

www.nasponline.org

Helpful for the diverse population we have in our country, this web-site (from the National

Association for School Psychology) has coping strategies and tips for helping students available in SIX different languages.  There is a particularly good section on creating memorials and/or rituals to help heal and comfort in the time of tragic events.  It also focuses on the varying ways children can express their grief, emphasizing that there are not always obvious, clear signals.  There are links here to the National Institute of Mental Health and other organizations that can provide even more information and resources.

www.sesameworkshop.org/parents/advice/article/0,4125,49560,00.html

For Pre-K and early elementary school children, this site contains a great age-appropriate book list for dealing with grief, tragedy, and fear.  The site also has tips in Spanish and English.

Researched and Compiled by Jennifer Stavely, a graduate student at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, October, 2001