When Terrorists Strike: What School Counselors Can Do. ERIC Digest

Terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, DC, and the continued threats of terrorism have the potential to engender negative psychological effects upon school age children and their families. School counselors and mental health professionals working with children need to be knowledgeable regarding interventions which allow students to openly discuss immediate and future concerns, cumulative stressors resulting from on-going terrorist threats, and post-terrorism psychopathology. This digest will familiarize readers with basic Critical Incident Stress Debriefings (CISD), outline the differences between CISD and the Adapted Family Debriefing Model for school students, and describe how mental health professionals can use this model as a post-terrorism response intervention. (Author)