This in-person learning opportunity consists of two separate workshops. Upon registering, you will have the option to sign up for either of the workshops or you can choose to attend both workshops. Each workshop will be treated as its own standalone event. Additionally, each workshop offers its own Continuing Education credit opportunities. Please read through the following information about each workshop and sign up accordingly.
If you have any questions, please reach out to [email protected].
The PREPaRE curriculum was developed by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) to provide school mental health professionals and other school personnel with comprehensive training on how to establish and best serve on school safety and crisis response teams. PREPaRE is the only comprehensive, nationally available training curriculum developed by educators for educators. It incorporates basic principles articulated by the U.S. Departments of Education (2013, 2019) and Homeland Security (2008), as well as the U.S. DOEs Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) guidance, and the Incident Command System (ICS) as delineated by the National Incident Management System (NIMS) from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). PREPaRE integrates the roles of existing school staff and community providers in terms of the five crisis preparedness mission areas (prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery) and grounds them in ongoing school safety efforts.
The curriculum is based on the following assumptions:
a. Skill sets of school-based professionals are best utilized when embedded within a multidisciplinary team that engages in crisis prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery.
b. School crisis management is relatively unique and, as such, requires its own model.
c. By virtue of their professional training and job functions, school-employed mental health professionals are best prepared to address the mental health issues associated with school crises.
The PREPaRE model emphasizes the following hierarchical and sequential set of activities:
P—Prevent and prepare for psychological trauma
R—Reaffirm physical health and perceptions of security and safety
E—Evaluate psychological trauma risk
P—Provide interventions
a—and
R—Respond to mental health needs
E—Examine the effectiveness of crisis prevention and intervention
Date of Training: Monday, April 24th, 2023
You do not have to live in HHS Region 8 to register for this event.
PREPaRE training is ideal for schools committed to improving and strengthening their school safety and crisis management plans and emergency response. PREPaRE is featured in the Best Practices Registry of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center.
Workshop 1: Prevention and Preparedness: Comprehensive School Safety Planning (Third Edition)
This 1-day workshop (6.5 contact hours) will help participants learn how to establish and sustain comprehensive school safety efforts that attend to both physical and psychological safety. The workshop addresses critical components needed to develop, exercise, and evaluate safety and crisis teams and plans and conduct building vulnerability assessments. The model also integrates school personnel and community provider roles in providing school-based crisis preparedness and response activities. Additional topics addressed also include media/social media, communication, reunification, students with special needs, culture, and memorials. After this workshop, participants will be better prepared to improve their school’s climate, student resilience, and crisis response capabilities of school personnel. With updated research and strategies, this workshop makes a clear connection between ongoing crisis prevention, mitigation, protection, and response.
WS1 Learner Objectives:
1. Identify the mission phases of crisis management.
2. Describe the critical importance of and components necessary for a balanced approach to comprehensive school safety and crisis preparedness.
3. Identify how to evaluate and implement physical and psychological safety efforts.
4. Identify the purpose, functions, and guiding principles of developing comprehensive safety and crisis teams and plans to include prevention, mitigation, protection, and response.
5. Identify the critical components, including when developing specific functional and threat- or hazard-specific protocols.
6. Identify the major functions of the Incident Command System (ICS).
7. Articulate specific strategies to address challenges associated with media/social media, communication, reunification, and memorials.
8. Describe how to meet diverse needs, including various cultures and students with disabilities; and identify strategies for examining effectiveness of crisis prevention and preparedness.
Agenda: CLICK HERE to view the proposed agenda for Workshop 1.
Intended Audience: School crisis teams, school mental health personnel, administrators, community liaisons, school resource officers, and any other professionals and support staff involved in crisis planning and preparation. Workshop 1 will be capped at 50 participants.
Costs: Workshops and related training materials are provided free of charge by the Mountain Plains MHTTC. Participant will be responsible for travel, hotel, and meals expenses.
Location: Salt Lake City, UT. Details will be emailed pending enrollment.
CE Credits: This 1-day workshop offers 7 credit hours of document NASP- Approved CPD. The time required to watch the mandatory pre-workshop video is included in the CPD hours.
Date of Training: Tuesday, April 25th through Wednesday, April 26th, 2023
You do not have to live in HHS Region 8 to register for this event.
Workshop 2: Mental Health Crisis Interventions: Responding to an Acute Traumatic Stressor in Schools (Third Edition)
This 2-day workshop (13.5 contact hours) will help participants develop knowledge and skills required to provide immediate mental health crisis interventions to students, staff, and school community members who have been simultaneously exposed to an acute traumatic stressor. The knowledge and skill developed within this session also helps to build a bridge to the psychotherapeutic and trauma informed mental health response sometimes required to address challenges associated with trauma exposure.
WS2 Learner Objectives:
1. Report reduced anxiety and fear associated with the provision of school mental health crisis interventions.
2. Report increased knowledge and confidence associated with the provision of school mental health crisis interventions.
3. Identify variables that help to estimate the number of individuals traumatized by a crisis.
4. Recognize the difference between common crisis reactions and mental illness.
5. Identify the elements of school crisis preparedness specified by the PREPaRE acronym.
6. Recognize risk factors that predict psychological trauma.
7. Identify the warning signs that indicate psychological trauma.
8. Place PREPaRE mental health crisis interventions on a multitiered continuum ranging from least to most restrictive.
9. Match the degree of psychological trauma risk to the appropriate school crisis interventions.
Agenda: CLICK HERE to view the proposed agenda for Workshop 2.
Intended Audience: Although more focused on mental health crisis intervention and recovery, it is relevant for anyone who serves on the crisis intervention team. Workshop 2 will be capped at 40 participants.
Costs: Workshops and related materials are provided free of charge by the Mountain Plains MHTTC. Participant will be responsible for travel, hotel, and meals expenses.
Location: Salt Lake City, UT. Details will be emailed pending enrollment.
CE Credits: This 2-day workshop offers 13 credit hours of document NASP- Approved CPD.
Cathy Davis, MA.Ed
Cathy Davis taught ecology, biology, and health sciences (anatomy and physiology) for over eighteen years; for seven years, Cathy taught school success to at-risk students. She is a small business owner and a Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program graduate. Cathy has training in eating disorders, grief counseling, and trauma-informed care and is certified with the American Association for Suicidology as a school suicide prevention specialist. Cathy is a certified QPR Trainer, safeTALK trainer, CONNECT postvention trainer, Youth Mental Health First Aid trainer, and PREPaRE (NASP) trainer. She has been the current Suicide Prevention Specialist at the Utah State Board of Education since 2014. Cathy is pursuing a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of Utah.
Kaye Poulton-Timm
College and Career Readiness Coordinator
Granite School District
Kaye has been an honored educator for over 30 years in Granite School District serving as teacher, coach, school counselor and now as the district’s CCR Coordinator. She has collaborated to create protocols for supporting students during and after crisis situations as a member of Granite District’s Emergency Operations Committee and as co-chair of the district’s crisis intervention team. Kaye is also an adjunct instructor at the University of Utah’s Educational Psychology Department helping to develop future school counselors and advocates for all students. Kaye has served on various state committees and co-presented at the American School Counselor Association national conference. In her spare time, she wrangles two active sons, Alex (16) and Henry (11) and works closely with her craftsman husband in his furniture making company. They are currently refurbishing a 1968 camper trailer in hopes of hitting the roads this summer for some exciting adventures.
Stacee Worthen
School Counselor Consultant
Jordan School District
In the middle of my love affair with teaching, my principal suggested I look into school counseling. He was impressed with my ability to establish relationships with students, parents and staff members. A year later, I was working on a master's degree in school counseling. I am forever grateful for that principal’s advice because I loved every minute of being a middle school and high school counselor. Twenty-two years into the profession, I have spent the last ten working as a school counselor. I was nominated as the 2017-2018 Life Changer of the Year and also received the Jordan School District 2018 Outstanding Educator of the Year. I currently work in Jordan School District as the Secondary Counselor Consultant and serve on many committees including the Restorative MTSS Task Force. I love working with students and counselors. It is so rewarding to watch students discover their passion and excitement for the possibilities their futures hold. School counseling is my passion and I feel privileged and honored to be a mentor, supervisor and advocate for approximately 100 school counselors in Jordan School District. Since my job includes working with counselors and students, I get the best of both worlds!
Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] with any questions regarding this great opportunity.
