Communicating in a Crisis:
Why This Issue Matters to You

You know what they say about a crisis: It's never a question of if it will happen, but when. And when that crisis hits, you will need to communicate with clarity, accuracy, and speed to your internal partners, stakeholders, and general public. In fact, your organization’s reputation could be affected not just by a crisis, but the way you communicate your response to it.

This issue of the Communication Coach Online stresses the importance of planning for communication in a crisis. Your initiative or school district may already have plans in place for crisis response, but those plans may not yet include a communication component. We hope you will look at the guidance offered in this issue to help you create a crisis communication plan, or improve the one you may already have in place.

Your SS/HS Communication Specialist is available to help you. We can assist you in developing press materials and providing site-specific media and spokesperson training for you and your staff. E-mail your Communication Specialist or call us at 1.800.790.2647 and let us know how we can help!

Crisis Communication: Preparing for—and Responding to—the Unthinkable

No organization is immune to a crisis situation. In broad terms, a crisis is any traumatic event, emergency situation, or natural disaster that has catastrophic consequences. From a communication perspective, a crisis is defined as any incident that threatens your program’s integrity or reputation. When disaster strikes, you need a roadmap for communicating with your key stakeholders, the media, and the general public. Read more.

Butte County, California Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative

On September 28, 2007, a troubled student brought a gun to Las Plumas High School in Oroville, CA. Hostages were taken and shots fired, but within 90 minutes the crisis was diffused. No one was injured, and accurate information was relayed to the public along the way. From the outside looking in, one might conclude that the response to this crisis ran like a well-oiled machine.  Read more.

"Our grant site is part of a large urban school district, just outside of Austin, TX, and we have experienced more than our fair share of crisis situations. One of the steps that helped us in our planning was to identify possible crisis situations that might occur in our community. We are located at the southern tip of 'tornado alley' and we knew immediately that severe weather is one type of crisis situation we should plan for. Other kinds of crises we are likely to face include accidents on school grounds, deaths of students and teachers, and outbreaks of infectious diseases..."

Willa Rosen
SS/HS Project Director
Round Rock, TX

Read more and comment.

Communication Coach Online

The Communication Coach Online is a quarterly e-zine produced by the Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) Communication Team offering practical communication training, resources and best practices to grantees nationwide.

The SS/HS Communication Team supports the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) vision of “a life in the community for everyone.” The team is a partnership of Macro International Inc., The Gallup Organization, and Kauffman & Associates, Inc. 

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The Ten Minute Marketer

If you feel as though marketing your initiative is a time consuming challenge that you just can’t fit into your schedule, The Ten-Minute Marketer can help. Each episode of this quarterly podcast series will offer quick, actionable steps you can take to enhance your communication efforts.

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Happenings Around the Prevention World

The Communication Coach Online is happy to provide a list of announcements and upcoming events of interest to Safe Schools/Healthy Students grantees.  Click on the event links to learn more.

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