Psychological/Behavioral Emergency

On rare occasions, you may find yourself with a student who is experiencing extreme distress so as to pose a possible danger to themselves or others. Such cases are psychological/behavioral emergencies that require immediate intervention. Signs of an emergency include:

• Threatening to harm self or others
• Acting out
• Emotional outburst
• Loss of rationality
• Venting, screaming, swearing, etc.
• High energy output

If the student is in significant distress but not in a life-threatening situation, call 773.508.2530 and press option 3 for assistance and ask to speak with the Wellness Center's on-call mental health professional. Please leave a phone number where you maybe reached and the on-call mental health professional will call it as soon as possible.

 

General Guidelines for Managing a Psychological/Behavioral Emergency 

If the crisis is life threatening or if the student's behavior is extreme:

• Call 44-911 from a campus phone and convey to the dispatcher that this is a life-threatening situation and that appropriate assistance is needed.
• If others are present, escort the student to a private area or hallway or ask others to step away.
• Be calm, clear and simple.
• After the situation has been resolved, notify the Dean of Students office at 8-8840 so that follow up can be initiated.

If you feel threatened or intimidated:

• Call 44-911 from a campus phone and convey to the dispatcher that you need help immediately. If you are in the classroom, send a specific student to go for help. Campus Safety can be reached at (773) 508-7233 from a mobile phone.
• Wait for assistance.
• Keep a safe distance and don't move toward the student.
• Do not attempt an intervention. Intervening at this point may trigger physical acting out behavior and jeopardize your safety and the safety of others around you.
• After the situation has been resolved, notify the Dean of Students office at 8-8840 from a campus phone so that follow up can be initiated

These verbal intervention tips may help you: 

DO	DON'T
Remain calm Isolate the situation Enforce the limits Listen Be aware of non verbals Be consistent	Overreact Get in a power struggle Make false promises Fake attention Be threatening Use jargon

Support After the Emergency

• Contact the Wellness Center at 8-2530 from a campus phone and press option 3 if you would like to talk to a mental health professional about what happened. Situations such as these can have impact on you.

• If the emergency happened in the classroom, a mental health professional can help you to sort things out and can offer to you some suggestions on helping the other students in the classroom.

 

Confidentiality

If you have made a referral to the Wellness Center, it is understandable that you might want to follow-up to see how the student is doing. Because of the importance of a student's right to privacy, professional standards of confidentiality and privileged communication laws bind the mental health professionals at the Wellness Center to strict confidentiality including whether a student kept an appointment or is being seen at the Center. However, if a student wishes that a mental health professional talk with you, the student must ask to sign a release of information form.