Practising Psychology in Challenging Times: Schools and the Ferguson crisis

Abstract

Aim:The United States has seen a recent increase in racial violence in urban communities. This paper described how a Missouri-based graduate program in applied educational and school psychology responded to the shooting and death of Michael Brown on 9 August 2014.Method:An analysis of available curriculum materials and school responses underline persistent racial and social inequalities that may have exacerbated the riots that followed from the shooting.Findings:Most of the 54 schools studied did not seem to provide psychologically beneficial responses to the Ferguson crisis. This paper focuses on the schools and individuals who ‘got it right’ by using the crisis as an opportunity for learning, healing, and community building.Limitations:The sample of schools was a sample of convenience rather than being a representative sample.Conclusions:Recommendations are made for the application of psychological understanding and schoolwide approaches that could enable open discussion of young people’s own responses to crisis and unrest, be that major disturbances such as that evidenced in Missouri or in other circumstances.