Letter from Bob Chase, President, National Education Association
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Dear Friend,
Over the years, I have witnessed some extraordinary events that have brought severe trauma to many of our members, the students they teach, and the communities they serve. It was on board Air Force II that I met Rear Admiral Brian Flynn, when we accompanied Vice President Al Gore and his wife Tipper to a memorial service for the students and teacher whose lives were lost in the tragedy at Columbine High School in April, 1999.
Admiral Flynn is an Assistant Surgeon General and psychologist at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration(SAMHSA)’s Center for Mental Health Services, part of the US Department of Health and Human Services. Through our meeting on Air Force II, the collaboration between SAMHSA and NEA began for an initiative to address the mental health needs of school personnel in relation to violence in our nation’s schools and communities.
When Brian and I met, I already was sadly familiar with the trauma that students and school personnel had experienced as a result of violence. In our introductions to each other, Brian explained to me that his office at SAMHSA had begun collaborating with the US Departments of Education and Justice to help schools and communities to work together to prevent violence. Following direction from the White House Conference on School Safety and the US Congress, his office would be assisting local schools and communities in the application of research-based practices and programs to prevent violence.
Brian also told me that his wife is a school counselor in a Washington, DC, suburban school district. Immediately following the tragedy at Columbine, her experience and those of her colleagues, in part, informed him of the importance of addressing the violence-related stress of school personnel.
This guide – Violence in Communities and Schools: A Stress Reduction Resource Guide for Teachers and Other School Staff – is a product of the resulting collaboration between NEA and SAMHSA.
The National Education Association is enormously grateful for SAMHSA’s support and for the generosity of so many who have shared their knowledge and experience-based wisdom on how we can work together to prevent violence, including how we can address the violence-related stress that affects those who educate our nation’s children.
With deep gratitude,
Bob Chase
President
National Education Association
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| Introduction
Section I – Stress 101: A Primer on Stress for School Employees Section II – Violence and Schools: Separating Myth from Fact Section III – Reducing Violence-Related Stress in Schools |
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