Trauma-informed Emergency Preparedness Drills?

Hi Kathy,

Yes, gosh, these drills are inherently traumatizing! I think you’re ahead of the pack on this one. Trauma-informed participatory emergency drills sound oxymoronic to me.

I did a little research and found this School Crisis Guide (I realize you’re not a school but schools seem to be the setting for the little research that is out there) which states:

"Provide training for the school crisis response team members, including on-site mock training exercises with public safety officials. When planning exercises, think carefully about who should be present. When is it appropriate for police and fire to practice in the building without staff? When should staff be present for drills? When should students be involved in the drills?...”. p 12

"Practice major aspects of the plan regularly, such as lockdown and evacuation procedures, using tabletop exercises and actual drills with law enforcement officials, so everyone is confident in fulfilling their roles." p 15

http://crisisguide.neahin.org/crisisguide/images/SchoolCrisisGuide.pdf

At least this guide brings up the questions.

This resource from the Dept of Education’s Emergency Response and Crisis Management (ERCM) Technical Assistance Center came from the bibliography of the document* below:

Weimerskirch. (2006). "Emergency exercises: An effective way to validate school safety plans." U.S. Dept. of Education: Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools, Technical Assistance Center.

http://rems.ed.gov/docs/Emergency_NewsletterV2I3.pdf

It states: “Develop scenarios based on actual vulnerabilities and risks the school district may encounter. Carefully review the proposed scenarios to ensure their appropriateness for the school setting and its students. (For example, full-scale exercises involving law enforcement may frighten younger children.)…”

This quote is the closest I’ve found in writing to validate your findings. Of course, some adults (w/ their own trauma histories) will have the reactions you found as you stated. Your findings should be a part of what this document calls “An Effective Post-Exercise Evaluation.” You might want to add ACE research to show that a certain percentage of the population/your staff will be vulnerable to participating in these active drills. This brief is really excellent and could perhaps provide the template of how your department evaluates its plan. Note the last section: “How Do I Obtain Buy-in From All Stakeholders?”

The website this brief came from may be worth exploring: http://rems.ed.gov/Display.aspx?page=homepage

Please see this website, too: http://www.ercm.org/preparedness-plan/ which reinforces evaluation:

"By taking a second look and re-evaluating your existing emergency preparedness plan, you will have the opportunity to make any important changes, add-ons, and modifications to your list. With this additional step, you will be sure to find some areas or categories that might need an important tool or supply that would have gone unnoticed if it wasn’t for your re-evaluation of the plan."

And I found this interesting thesis that may provide some additional food for thought:

*Van Sparrentak. (2008). “BUILDING SCHOOL RESILIENCE IN AN ERA OF MULTIPLE THREATS.”

http://calhoun.nps.edu/public/bitstream/handle/10945/3920/08Sep_Van...

I scanned it for the words “drill” and “trauma” and nothing specific to your concerns came up, fyi, but it seemed worthy of mentioning. It has an interesting bibliography that might prove helpful.

Sorry I couldn’t provide you with anything more solid. There’s not much out there on this topic. Maybe some other members will be able to speak on this issue.

If I can help you with any additional research, please let me know.

Hi Kathy,

     A psychologist member of our Hanover-Lebanon (NH) Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) is also a Red Cross Disaster Planning team member who resides (and may liaison to other Vermont municipalities) in Vermont. I'd be happy to relay his name privately, as he may have access to some research that addresses the triggering nature of such drills, as well as emergency preparedness templates.   I don't know if any Vermont Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) team members have any emergency preparedness templates, or if the ISTSS (International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies) has any, or possibly the National Fire Protection Association. One other possible source of research may be the psychologist staff at the On-Site Academy in Gardner, Massachusetts.

Thank you very much Chris! You spent a lot of time searching, that's clear.

I have included ACE stats, including Vermont's own ACE data. I wrote a two-page memo about why the drills, as conducted, are a bad idea. The response seems to be that the drills are more important than any "distress" some might experience as a result of them. There does not seem to be any understanding of the potential magnitude of pychic pain that can result from such events.

Two years ago, when we last had one of these drills, I contacted the The Trauma Center in Boston and asked them if they knew of any research (after conducting an exhaustive on-line search of my own for such studies, coming up with nothing). The answer was no, after a response of "that sounds horrible."

My searches on this topic did come up with two news accounts of even worse drills - one in California in which a man dressed all in black, complete with hood and a fake gun, went into an ICU in a large hospital and took the nurses hostage....no one knew it was a drill. Another story was about a similar drill in an elementary school in Pennslyvania  - I think in that one there were even "shots" fired....Again, no one even knew it was a drill.

This would be a good research topic for any grad students in the trauma field.....

I will check out the links you sent. Thanks again, Chris.

Best,

Kathy

Kathy, I sent you the psychologist's name to your message account. Glad to help!-Bob Olcott

Hi again Kathy,

   I just "cut & pasted" this from a book review on this site, and underlined what I hope may be a helpful resource to your inquiry:

About the Authors

Thank you, Robert! I will check that out. I've heard of Julian Ford - must be because of his work with ISTSS and the journal. But he's not the psychologist from the Hanover-Lebanon team, right? If I could get  his name as well, that would be fantastic.

Best,

Kathy

Thanks- I googled him and came up with a phone number right off, so I'll get in touch with him.

Thanks again.

Kathy

Hi Kathy, Glad to help. I recently ran across an item re disaster planning with consideration for schoolchildren/teachers, etc., and if you have need or use for it, I'll try to locate it, also. (It may have been through the nationwide SPSCOT (State Personnel Systems Coalition on Trauma) Listserve .  Best, Bob Olcott

Hi Kathy,

     Just today, I ran across a 1987 article about an elementary school shooting in California, and the (equivalent at that time of a "Trauma-Informed") debriefing of each classroom by a therapist..... the narrative was indicative of some planning factors. If you want particulars, I'll try to avail it. --Best Regards, Bob Olcott