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Program offers support for students in crisis

By Billie Dunn

COXSACKIE — Therapeutic Crisis Intervention is a method of intervention developed by Cornell University, and its primary purpose is to provide a crisis prevention and intervention model for residential care facilities.

Katie Castle, a special education teacher at Coxsackie-Athens Middle School, and Shauna Evans, school psychologist at EJ Arthur Elementary School and C-A Middle School, attended a training seminar at Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex (WSWHE) BOCES over the summer, and at the recent school board meeting they presented an overview of their training to the board.

“TCI training is something that the district had talked about looking into before, but Katie (Castle) and Shauna (Evans) heard about the training and they came to me,” said Chief of Curriculum Instruction Maureen Long.

Director of Special Education Pat Gray recommended that the women approach the district with their idea, and after a five-day intensive training session, they have become turn-key trainers, which means that they now have the ability to train the district’s staff.

TCI is a way of providing support to students who are in crisis, and though it is primarily used with special-needs students, the method may be used with general education students as well.

The goal? To provide students with immediate emotional and environmental support, while reducing stress and risk, and ultimately teaching more constructive and effective ways to deal with stressful situations.

The stress model of a crisis begins with the pre-crisis state, which is followed by a triggering phase. Afterward the crisis escalates, until it climaxes at the outburst phase; the outburst is followed by recovery.

“As much as TCI will help at the outburst stage of a crisis, a lot of the training is employed toward de-escalation and ways to work with students to prevent getting to the outburst stage,” said Evans.

Trainees learn how to identify the crisis cycle and understand and assess aggressive behavior. They are also taught specific intervention approaches, behavior management techniques, de-escalation techniques and preventative measures — and as a last resort, they’re taught restraint.

The goal of physical restraint is to ensure safety, and the technique is only used as the very last component of TCI and only in potentially violent situations.

Training takes a minimum of four consecutive eight-hour days, and a physical and written exam is required to become certified.

Castle and Evans, who are now certified to train others, recommend need-based training for faculty and staff throughout the district.

“TCI is so important. It really makes you take a step back and recognize how your behaviors can impact a situation,” said Evans.

“Safety is essential,” said Castle, “and when people leave the training they’ll be better equipped to deal with crisis situations.”

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