A Note From Owen

I am sure most us have spent a great deal of time this weekend thinking about the best way to support our children in the aftermath of the tragedy that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday, December 14^th.

On Monday morning we will meet as a staff to share ideas and support each other. UES will continue to keep our students and staff safe. If students ask staff and faculty about the tragedy we will address those questions and comments individually. We will not address this information in an assembly format.

A small group of UES professional staff met with me on Sunday afternoon to develop a response plan for the upcoming week. We had the good fortune to speak with Dr. Anne Stewart, Professor of Psychology at James Madison University in Virginia. Dr. Stewart is an expert in crisis response and specifically in school crisis response. Dr. Stewart has given us express authority to use her research to support the UES community through this difficult time.   Dr Stewart has written several articles in response to recent school tragedies. www.psyc.jmu.edu/gradpsyc/people/stewart.html.

Please let me know if there is anything that you need. It is important that we work together with tenderness, care and compassion as we move forward during this difficult time.

In this very dark week both on the calendar and in our lives let’s lift light up around us both literally and figuratively.

Here are some resources about talking with children:

http://www.schoolcounselor.org/content.asp?contentid=672 (American School Counselor’s Association – Helping Kids During Crisis)

http://www.savethechildren.org (How to Help Children Cope with a Crisis)

parenting.blogs.nytimes.com (How Not to Talk With Children About…)