Culturally Competent Crisis Response

School psychologists are increasingly involved in providing crisis response within multicultural communities. Those who are committed to enhancing their skills in cultural competency are more likely to be effective caregivers when challenging situations arise. For example, reports from a 1989 Stockton, California schoolyard shooting in a predominantly Southeast Asian community found that school officials had difficulty communicating with parents, and that police and medical crews were transporting unidentified children to the hospital, resulting in unnecessary confusion and anxiety for the frightened parents. As a result, parents were forced to wait for several agonizing hours before learning the location and status of their children (Allen et al., 2004).

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