Mr. Franklin is a school social worker who is holding a crisis intervention group for 4 students who were rescued after their school building collapsed in an earthquake. He has encouraged students to provide a vivid description of the traumatic event and emphasized that their emotional reactions were normal. He has also encouraged the students to identify strengths and benefits they have derived from the traumatic experience. Which step in the standard crisis intervention protocol for children did Mr. Franklin leave out?

• A. Explaining the facts of the event in language that the children can understand
• B. Helping the students assign blame for the traumatic experience
• C. Drawing pictures or writing to express their feelings
• D. Telling the students what will happen next in the rebuilding process

Answer: (A)

In crisis intervention with children, a key early step is to provide developmentally appropriate information about what happened in simple terms. This helps establish a sense of safety and gives children a factual framework to work from, rather than leaving them to fill in gaps with rumors, misunderstandings, or frightening guesses.

Here, the group is being guided to describe the traumatic event vividly, respond to their feelings as normal, and identify strengths and coping gains. Those are important parts of processing and resilience. But without offering a clear, age-appropriate explanation of what occurred and what is known or unknown, the children may rely on fantasy or misperceptions to make sense of the experience. Providing the facts grounds the discussion, reduces uncertainty, and supports subsequent processing, coping skill development, and planning for what will happen next in rebuilding and recovery. The other elements can then build on that solid factual foundation rather than competing with it for attention.