Managing the Extraordinary Crisis in Children & Youth Services

Imagine that one of your new energetic employees has decided to work alone in the office after hours. She is assaulted by an unknown person and must be hospitalized. What will you do first? Who must be notified? Who meets with law enforcement? Who talks with the media? What information do you provide? These and many other questions must be addressed.

Managers of youth serving organizations frequently find themselves dealing with crisis situations. From time to time these situations become extraordinary events that range from youth or staff misconduct in the community to natural disasters, suicide, restraint tragedies and even homicides. While training exists to prepare staff to manage the crisis moment, little attention has been devoted to preparing for management of the repercussions from extraordinary crisis events. In the current service arena, the meticulous oversight of governing authorities requires managers to be more vigilant and more prepared for such events. Without an organized approach, organizations and their staff can commit critical errors that can exaggerate the impact of these events.

This single-day workshop is designed to assist managers in the development of a Crisis Management Plan (CMP) for their organization. The CMP is an organized approach by which an organization can respond to stakeholders such as: clients/students, families, community leaders, oversight agents, financial supporters, media personnel, law enforcement and others. Recovery from an extraordinary crisis event is always difficult. When attempted in a haphazard and unplanned way it can become incredibly problematic. When a CMP is available, recovery problems are significantly reduced. Crisis events create apprehension and uncertainty within an organization. When the organization’s public reaction to the event is driven by those forces, the only thing that is certain is that a bad situation will become worse.

This workshop will be led by Bill Cammarata, MSW. Bill is a veteran youth service professional who has both public and private sector experience. During his 35 year career, Bill has had the opportunity to witness and participate in the management of numerous “extraordinary events”. As director of the Western Region Office of Children, Youth and Families for the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, Bill was involved in the oversight of numerous crisis events. His experience in crisis event management expanded during his private sector work at the Pressley Ridge Schools and with Cornell Companies. These real life experiences provide the foundation for this workshop and allow Bill to deliver practical direction for the development of CMP in your organization.

What Can I Expect to Learn at this Workshop:

• An opportunity for participants to exchange information on their current CMP practice.

• A review and analysis of several current extraordinary events.

• The presentation of a CMP template to guide actual plan development.

• A crisis event response experience in which participants will apply the template.

This Program is Only Being Offered as an Onsite Training

Please Call Now to Bring this Training to Your organization!!