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to pitch in during a crisis School psychologist organizes response team 
Feb. 25, 2004 Glens Falls Psychologist Michelle LaFountain teaches crisis response. Related stories:
As counselors stood by in early February to help students at Columbia High deal with the shooting of teacher Michael Bennett, another group of trained professionals was standing by ready to help the helpers, if needed. In a crisis, "the school's response team can easily suffer from exhaustion and compassion fatigue," said Michelle LaFountain, a psychologist at Glens Falls High in Warren County. LaFountain, a member of the Glens Falls Teachers Association, has organized and trained a Capital District Crisis Response Team to help communities deal with the effects of such natural disasters as tornadoes, blizzards and earthquakes - and such unnatural events as hostage situations, terrorism, serial killings and other emergencies that can befall any community at a moment's notice. "I became interested in this work as an intern, with the rash of school violence that was occurring in the country," said LaFountain. Last fall, she spent five days helping assemble and train more than a dozen teachers, counselors, law enforcement officials and other would-be volunteers for regional and national crisis response teams to go into situations like the shooting in East Greenbush and provide services at whatever level they're needed. National stage Some of the 14 volunteers for the new upstate regional team also agreed to join LaFountain on a national team that has helped many communities affected by school shootings - the National Organization for Victim Assistance. Formed in 1986, NOVA has coordinated thousands of volunteers to respond to tragedies ranging from the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing to the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Once deployed, volunteers spend the next 72 hours or so providing one-to-one and group crisis intervention counseling, helping victims deal with the many relief agencies, and training local care-givers and counselors to sustain the services once they're gone. Because volunteers can be called and deployed to a disaster scene in less than 24 hours, they need an understanding employer. "The district has been very supportive of our involvement in this," said LaFountain, a member of the New York Association of School Psychologists. After covering most of the cost of her training as a nationally certified crisis responder and trainer of other volunteers, the district provided five days' leave, substitute coverage and expenses for four of LaFountain's colleagues to attend her recent training session. The 40-hour course helps participants learn to work with different populations, cultures and religions in a crisis. It also trains them in long-term stress reactions and post-trauma counseling. While the capital district response team is just beginning its work in a 10-county area of upstate New York, "We want to become large enough that we can respond to the entire state and be written into the state's emergency response protocol," LaFountain said. Glens Falls TA President Brian Donohue calls LaFountain "the quintessential educator." "She dedicates her time and rallies others to help benefit the less fortunate and victimized in our community," he said. - John Strachan |
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