Page 1 

 For more information, please visit www.ready.gov

Listen, Protect, 

Connect –

Model & Teach 

PSYCHOLOGICAL

FIRST AID (PFA) FOR

STUDENTS AND TEACHERS

Helping you help your students 

in times of disaster, school 

crises, or emergencies.
Page 2 

For more information, please visit www.ready.gov

 As a teacher, you are in an 

excellent position to help your 

students after a disaster, school 

crisis, or emergency.

 Just as you help connect students with 

appropriate academic and counseling 

services under normal circumstances, 

you are in an excellent position to help 

your students return to school, stay in 

school, continue to learn, and return to 

their usual school-based activities after 

such an event. 
Page 3 

 For more information, please visit www.ready.gov

/LVWHQ

3URWHFW

DQG&RQQHFW

 You can help your students if you 

Listen,

Protect,

Connect – 

Model & Teach 

the steps of PSYCHOLOGICAL 

FIRST AID for your students after 

a disaster, school crisis, or 

emergency. 

 These steps can help them 

bounce back more quickly. 
Page 4 

For more information, please visit www.ready.gov

THINK ABOUT your students’ 

“DIRECT EXPERIENCE” with the 

event. 

 “Direct experience” means a FIRST-HAND 

EXPERIENCE of the event (physically 

experiencing or directly seeing it as it happens).

 After the event, changes can happen in 

students’ thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. 

Your students may worry about family members, 

classmates, friends, or pets they care about, and 

may worry that it will happen again. 

Common reactions to disasters, school 

crises and emergencies include trouble sleeping, 

problems at school and with friends, trouble 

concentrating and listening, and not finishing work 

or assignments. Your students may become more 

irritable, sad, angry, or worried as they think about 

what has happened, and as they experience 

recovery efforts after the event. 

Getting Started: 

Understanding the 

Effect of a Disaster, School 

Crisis, or Emergency 
Page 5 

 For more information, please visit www.ready.gov

When students share their 

experiences, thoughts and feelings 

about the event, LISTEN for 

RISK FACTORS for adverse reactions.

Risk factors that may indicate a counseling referral is 

needed for students include: 

 loss of a family member, schoolmate, or friend 

 observing serious injury or the death of another person 

 family members or friends missing after the event 

 getting hurt or becoming sick due to the event 

 home loss, family moves, changes in neighborhoods,

changes in schools, and/or loss of belongings 

 being unable to evacuate quickly

 past traumatic experiences or losses

 pet loss

 If a student has had any of these experiences, 

you may wish to consider referring her or him to your 

school psychologist, counselor, or social worker. 

Now that you know what can 

affect your students after a disaster, 

school crisis, or emergency, you’re ready to 

LISTEN, PROTECT, CONNECT – 

MODEL & TEACH!
Page 6 

For more information, please visit www.ready.gov

The first important step to help your 

students after an event is to listen and 

pay attention to what they say and how 

they act. Remember that your students 

may also show their feelings in nonverbal 

ways, like increased behavioral problems 

or increased withdrawal. 

 Let your students know you are 

willing to listen and talk about the event, 

or to make referrals to talk to an 

appropriate professional, if they prefer it. 

Use the following questions to talk with 

your students. You can listen for clues 

that indicate when students are 

having a hard time. Write down a 

few examples that may be helpful to 

note:

1. What might be preventing a student 

from coming to or staying in school? 

 

 

1. Listen, Protect, 

Connect –

Model & Teach 
Page 7 

 For more information, please visit www.ready.gov

2. What might be preventing a student from 

paying attention in class or doing homework? 

 

3. What might be preventing a student from 

returning to other school-based activities? 

 

 Listen, observe, and note any changes in:

Å behavior and/or mood 

Å school performance 

Å interactions with schoolmates and teachers 

Å participation in school-based activities 

Å behaviors at home that parents discuss with you 
Page 8 

For more information, please visit www.ready.gov

You can help make your students feel 

better by doing some or all of the following: 

Å Answer questions simply and honestly, 

clearing up confusion students may have 

about what happened. 

Å Let your students know that they are not 

alone in their reactions to the event.

Å Provide opportunities for your students to 

talk, draw, and play, but don’t force it.

Å Talk to your students about what is being 

done by the school and community to keep 

everyone safe from harm. 

Å Watch for anything in the environment that 

could re-traumatize your students. 

Å Keep your eyes and ears open for bullying 

behaviors.

Listen, 2. Protect, 

Connect –

Model & Teach 
Page 9 

 For more information, please visit www.ready.gov

Å Maintain daily routines, activities, and structure 

with clear expectations, consistent rules, and 

immediate feedback; limit unnecessary changes. 

Å Make adjustments to assignments to be 

sensitive to students’ current level of 

functioning. 

Å Limit access to live television and the Internet 

that show disturbing scenes of the event. 

Remember, what’s not upsetting to you and 

other adults may upset and confuse your 

students, and vice versa. 

Å Encourage students to “take a break” from the 

crisis focus with activities unrelated to the event. 

Å Find ways for your students to feel helpful to 

your classroom, the school, and the community. 

List other things you do that help your 

students feel better. Sharing lists with other 

teachers may increase ideas to help your 

students. 

 

 
Page 10 

For more information, please visit www.ready.gov

 Reaching out to 

people in your 

s c h o o l a n d 

community will 

help your students 

after a disaster, 

school crisis, or 

emergency. These

connections will build 

strength for everyone. Consider ways to 

make some or all of the following 

connections: 

Å “Check in” with students on a regular basis.

Å Find resources that can offer support to 

your students and classroom.

Å Keep communication open with others 

involved in your students’ lives (parents, 

other teachers, coaches, etc.). 

Å Restore interactive school activities, 

including sports, club meetings, studentserviced projects, and student government.

Listen, Protect, 

3. Connect –

Model & Teach
Page 11 

 For more information, please visit www.ready.gov

Å Encourage student activities with friends, 

including class projects and extracurricular 

activities.

Å Empathize with your students by allowing a little 

more time for them to learn new materials. 

Å Build on your students’ strengths. Find ways to 

help them use what they have learned in the past 

to help them deal with the event. 

Å Remind your students that major disasters, 

crises, and emergencies are rare, and discuss 

other times they have felt safe. 

List programs and activities that connect 

you and your students with the community. 

Share your list with other teachers to create a 

larger list of activities and resources. 

 

 
Page 12 

For more information, please visit www.ready.gov

 As you help your students after a disaster, 

crisis, or emergency, your efforts may be 

more successful – and you may be less 

stressed – if you keep in mind:

Å It is good to be aware of your thoughts, 

feelings, and reactions about the event, which 

can be seen and can affect your students. 

Å How you cope and behave after an event will 

influence how your students cope and behave. 

Your students will be watching you for both 

verbal and nonverbal cues. 

Å Monitor conversations that students may hear. 

Å Acknowledge the difficulty of the situation, but 

demonstrate how people can come together 

to cope after such an event. 

Listen, Protect,

Connect –

4. Model & Teach 
Page 13 

 For more information, please visit www.ready.gov

Listen, Protect,

Connect – 

Model & 5. Teach

 Talk to your students about expected reactions 

after a crisis (emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and 

physiological). There are “normal” reactions to 

abnormal events. 

Å Different people may have very different reactions, 

even within the same family. After the event, people 

may also have different amounts of time they need 

to cope and adjust. 

Å Encourage your students to identify and use positive 

coping strategies to help them after the event. 

Å Help your students problem-solve to get through 

each day successfully. 

Å Help your students set small “doable” goals and 

share in these achievements as “wins” for the 

students and your classroom. 

Å Remind students that 

with time and 

assistance, things 

generally get better. 

If they don’t, they 

should let a parent or 

teacher know. 
Page 14 

For more information, please visit www.ready.gov

It is okay for you to seek 

professional help for yourself:

3 When you have feelings of being overwhelmed 

or overly stressed that don’t go away over 

time. 

3 When you are not sure about how to handle a 

situation with a student or a family member.

Over time,

Å you,

Å your students,

Å their families, 

Å your classroom, 

can EXPECT RECOVERY.
Page 15 

 For more information, please visit www.ready.gov

For More Information 

copy editor/designer: Rachel C. Flores 

Please visit www.ready.gov

Ready is a national public service advertising campaign 

produced by The Advertising Council in partnership with U.S. 

Department of Homeland Security. The Ready

Campaign is designed to educate and empower Americans to 

prepare for and respond to emergencies, including 

natural disasters and potential terrorist attacks 

and

 www.cincinnatichildrens.org/school-crisis 

The National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement.

For more information on 

Listen, Protect, Connect —

Model and Teach

contact Dr. Merritt Schreiber at m.schreiber@ucla.edu. 

“Listen, Protect, and Connect — Model & Teach” 

Psychological First Aid for Children 

© 2006 M. Schreiber, R. Gurwitch. M. Wong. 

All rights reserved. 

Thanks to the support of the following 

centers at the University of California Los 

Angeles, School of Public Health: 

Center for Public Health and 

Disasters and Health and Media 

Research Group. The authors also 

thank Crisis Counseling & 

Intervention Services of the Los

Angeles Unified School District.

Acknowledgements 
Page 16 

For more information, please visit www.ready.gov