Support for Haiti
Along with the rest of the world, the hearts and thoughts
of NASP members, leadership, and staff go out to the people of Haiti and
those trying to aid survivors. It will be some time before comprehensive or
school-related mental health services can be made available to children on
the ground.
Supporting
Children and Families in the U.S.
Here in the United States, many schools will be supporting
children affected by the disaster either because they are from Haiti and have
family there or are from another part of the world recently devastated by a
natural disaster. NASP is working with Haitian-American school psychologists
to develop resources for school mental health professionals, educators, and
caregivers, specific to this population and set of needs.
Currently, NASP’s natural disaster resources are
available online. Most specific right now are:
Monitor
Media Exposure
It is especially important to remind adults to monitor
children’s exposure to media images, particularly young children and those
with preexisting trauma risk. The media images of this catastrophe are much
more graphic than for any other natural disaster or crisis in recent history.
Exposure to these images can trigger trauma response in children and adults.
This can be true for children who are not directly connected to this tragedy.
Additionally many parents and other caregivers are likely
to be emotionally and psychologically stressed as they learn or wait to hear
the fate of loved ones in Haiti. Some may not be aware of or able to meet the
emotional needs of their children.
Trauma
and Crisis Resources
Other NASP resources specific to helping children cope
with crisis and loss include:
Helping
Resources
Protective factors can include maintaining a sense of
normalcy, focusing on people’s resilience and the outpouring of help from
around the world, and taking action to help. For those who would like to
contribute to relief efforts, the U.S. State Department has an extensive list
of organizations
working in Haiti.
Please check back here over the next few days as we will
update and add to these resources.
Information on the crisis in Haiti from the National
Association of School Psychologists may be adapted and distributed by school
districts to meet the needs of their school community as long as the
integrity of the content is not altered. NASP must be credited as the
original source of th information (Adapted from....) PDF handouts may be
posted and distributed without receiving specific permission as long as they
are reprinted or posted to websites verbatim, credit NASP, and include links
to the NASP website.