PREPaRE Testimonials

Richard J. Erdlen Jr., PhD
Supervisor of School Psychology Services
Lincoln Intermediate Unit No. 12

I direct a crisis response team in a regional educational agency that provides psychological services to 25 school districts in a three-county area. Most of our responses are in the context of sudden death to students and faculty members. However, we have had two major responses: 1) to a school intruder wielding a machete and causing serious injury and 2) to a fatal school shooting in a middle school cafeteria with half of the student body as witnesses.

The PREPaRE curriculum is especially useful in those situations that have large scale impact. We had learned firsthand of the issues involved when working with multiple agencies. Now we have a model that allows for a conceptual understanding of the response structure, common terminology, and a common mission. There is no longer any excuse for “winging it" in a school crisis response. The PREPaRE curriculum provides an evidence-based approach to meeting the mental-health needs of students in a time of crisis.

Frank Zenere,  EdS
School Psychologist
Miami-Dade County Public Schools
Miami, Florida

The PREPaRE curriculum provides school level and district administrators, crisis team members, and mental health professionals with the information and skills essential for preventing, preparing, responding, and recovering from critical incidents and disasters. As a school district crisis management specialist and PREPaRE trainer, I have found the curriculum to be a well-orchestrated blend of theory and best practices that can serve as a template in developing a school crisis management program, or be utilized to update existing practices to meet contemporary guidelines.

Martha J. Rosen, PhD
Manager of Psychological Services
Minneapolis Public Schools

During summer 2007, a number of counselors, nurses, psychologists and social workers employed by Minneapolis Public Schools were trained in the PREPaRE model.  We have found it to be an excellent approach to thinking about and planning for crisis prevention, response, and, especially, recovery.  It has given us a common language and a shared set of basic principles for talking among ourselves and to other district staff.  We feel confident that the strategies in the PREPaRE model represent state-of-the-art best practices.  This material has become a key component of our district’s approach to Emergency Response and Crisis Management.

Dennis Rastatter
Director of Student Outreach
Thompson School District
Loveland, Colorado

PREPaRE Workshop 1 provided us with the structure to provide a district-wide training. Every school’s crisis team in our district has completed the PREPaRE training. The training has allowed our district and its 29 schools the opportunity to speak the same language when it comes to crisis prevention and PREPaREdness. Every school has completed the crisis plan which has provided the district office a measure to ensure that schools are addressing school safety and practicing drills.

Similarly, all school counselors have completed Workshop 2 which has allowed for them to define the roles of mental health service providers in times of crisis. The training has provided the continuity amongst providers that we have striven to reach for years.

Karen Loucks, MS, NCSP
School Psychologist
Coordinator of District Crisis Psychological Support Team

Our school district is in the process of training all school psychologists and all school counselors, in addition to at least two additional members of each school’s building based crisis team, so that common language and understanding with regard to triage and intervention are prevalent.  Feedback from participants provided following the two trainings completed have been quite positive, with comments indicating the benefits of helping professionals being on the same page during a crisis.  Even people who indicated that they often do not like some of the teaching methods used (i.e., role plays) stated that these were effective.   The content of the curriculum was often praised as being very comprehensive, and hearing the trainers’ related experiences was helpful.