Guidance & Counseling

Helping Kids During Crisis

Thank you to Linde Thompson, Hyer Elementary counselor for providing us with a majority of these resources.

• Try and keep routines as normal as possible. Kids gain security from the predictability of routine, including attending school
• Limit exposure to television and the news.
• Be honest with kids and share with them as much information as they are developmentally able to handle.
• Listen to kids’ fears and concerns.
• Reassure kids that the world is a good place to be, but that there are people who do bad things.
• Parents and adults need to first deal with and assess their own responses to crisis and stress.
• Rebuild and reaffirm attachments and relationships.
• Provide your kids with ongoing opportunities to talk about what they went through or what they’re seeing on TV. Encourage them to ask questions and express their concerns. Make it clear that there are no bad feelings.
• If you don’t know the answer to a question, don’t be afraid to admit it. Don’t jeopardize your child’s trust in you by making something up.
• The traumatic event or disaster may trigger or bring up unrelated fears and issues in your kids. Acknowledge and validate these concerns, even if they don’t seem relevant to you.
• Monitor television watching. Limit your child’s exposure to graphic images and videos. As much as you can, watch news reports of the disaster with your children. This will give you a good opportunity to talk and answer questions.
• Remember that children often personalize situations. They may worry about their own safety or that of their family, even if the traumatic event occurred far away. Reassure your child and help him or her place the situation in context.
• Watch for physical signs of stress. The symptoms of traumatic stress may appear as physical complaints such as headaches, stomach pains, or sleep disturbances.

Internet Safety

• Cyberbullying - What to do if it happens to you!

• Cyber Safety for Parents
• Contract for Responsible Cell Phone Use
• Protecting your Child on the Internet

Parenting Resources

• Developing Healthy School Habits

• Teaching Self-Control

Emotional Support

• Grief in Children
• Relaxation Exercises for Children
• Positive Friendship Skills
• Divorced Parent Resources
• Anxiety, Fears, and Phobias
• Suicide Crisis Center

The Coordinator for Student Integrity and Compliance is responsible for designing and implementing a program that promotes responsibility and accountability for all students in grades 7-12, with additional emphasis on those who participate in extracurricular and co-curricular activities. Components of the new program will address the following: 

• Parent outreach programs that support the role of the family in addressing the short and long-term harmful effects of exposure to alcohol and drugs on the development of adolescents and young adults, the impact on education, and legal consequences for minors and adults.
• Student outreach programs that address the harmful effects of alcohol and drugs and disciplinary and legal consequences for students.
• Strengthening of the HPISD Extracurricular Code of Conduct as an effective tool to promote positive behavior and leadership in all students who participate in co-curricular and extracurricular activities.
• Staff development for teachers who serve as sponsors and coaches of students in such programs that develop their capacity to educate, support, and motivate students.
• The building of partnerships with other organizations, such as universities, community organizations, and non-profits to support this initiative in ways that maximize their unique strengths and capacities.

Faith-Based Visitation Structure and Guidelines

• HPISD allows local faith-based leaders to visit with students who are already members of their faith-based organizations in grades 5-12 on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month.
   
• HPISD allows these visits during campus lunch times provided each faith-based leader has completed the required criminal background check and has signed the HPISD guidelines linked below.
   
• HPISD allows faith-based partners to visit with students whose parents have signed the digital parent authorization form found at the bottom of this page.
   
• HPISD Board Policy Manual: GKC(REGULATION) 

HPISD Goals for Faith-Based Partnerships

• Fostering an avenue for our students to connect with trusted adults who positively impact their well-being.
   
• Connecting counselors with faith-based leaders who are also shouldering some of the well-being support for our students and families.
   
• Involving faith-based leaders in PC Hope, helping to design and implement student well-being supports for the HPISD community.
   
• Identifying members of their congregations who are the contact points for HPISD in times of crisis.
   
• Supporting every HPISD student to be an inclusive, empathetic, resilient and engaged citizen of the global community. 

FAQ

The below list of resources is provided by the Highland Park Independent School District Counseling Department, and in no way constitutes an endorsement or relationship between HPISD and the agency.

Mental Health

• Grant Halliburton Foundation
• National Alliance on Mental Illness, NAMI Dallas
• The Grace Loncar Foundation

Alcohol or Substance Abuse

• Alcoholics Anonymous
• Narcotics Anonymous
• RehabSpot, Teenage Alcoholism

Crisis

• • The Rape Crisis Center

 Child Abuse Reporting/Domestic Violence

• Child Protective Services
• The Family Place
• Genesis Women’s Shelter
• Our Friends Place