Crisis Response

RCC offers over 3 decades of experience in addressing the psycho-social needs of communities living through crisis.

When Crisis Occurs

Varying levels of services supporting communities (organizational, corporate, schools, etc.) experiencing crisis and tragedy can be provided—individual counselling, consultation, and on-site crisis response teams.

Since responding the the Jarkata incident in 2014, Dr. Anderson has developed an expertise working with international schools with an understanding of the unique challenge of working in South East Asia.

The first level of response offered is individual counselling which can be provided on-site or in RCC Counselling's offices. Clients coming to Singapore from abroad for services can be provided with an intensive schedule of individual counselling sessions (for example, Tuesday, Wednesday, & Friday) over the course of a week. This can take place immediately after the event and can be followed up with another intensive week sometime later as needed. Counselling can also be provided by telephone or Skype, if this is more suitable.

The second level of response offered is crisis response consultation. Dr. Anderson is available to assist community leaders through the process of planning a response to a crisis situation. Incidents that have community-wide impact could vary from individual crises such as an industrial accident, transportation incident, natural disaster, suicide, or mass criminal event.

Examples of planning issues include:
• Identifying high-risk groups in need of immediate and long-term support
• Identification of support resources
• Memorial planning
• Considerations related to resumption of work
• Education about the impact of the incident on individuals and the wider community
• Longer-term concerns for the community affected

The third level of response offered is the deployment of a Crisis Response Team (minimum of two responders, if outside of Singapore) to the location of the crisis or where those affected by an incident may be gathering. A Crisis Response Team provides three types of assistance: planning, “just-in-time” training, and direct services. Planning support is focused on helping community leaders assess the impact of the crisis and plan for short and long-term support. “Just-in-time” training can be provided for human resource, employee assistance program staff, school counselors, and community-based counselors, to help them provide on-going support after the Crisis Response Team leaves. Direct services include psycho-education, and individual and group crisis interventions.

Dr. Suzanne Anderson is an experienced trainer educating counselors, social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, clergy, grassroots workers, about responding sensitively to individual and community-wide incidents. Certified by the National Organization for Victim Assistance as a trainer and Certified Crisis Responder. For more detailed information see the Training page.

Dr. Anderson has worked extensively with international schools in the Southeast Asia region both in responding to crisis and developing training tailored to the international school's unique community and needs. See the International School Crises page for more information.

Crisis Response Training

Basic

NOVA Community Crisis Response Team Training

Monday to Wednesday, 2 - 4 November 2026

(3 days)

Central Singapore (depending on the numbers enrolled; previously held at the American Club and NTU@OneNorth)

Advanced

NOVA Community Crisis Response Team Training

Pre-requisite: completed the Basic course

2027 TBD (3 days)

Central Singapore (depending on the numbers enrolled; previously held at the American Club and NTU@OneNorth)

International School Crises

Dr. Anderson was first involved in working with schools in the aftermath of disaster when Hurricane Andrew hit Dade Country Florida in 1992. She was deployed on a team responsible for providing training for school counsellors and psychologists in the Dade County public school system. More recently Dr. Anderson has provided support to the Jakarta Intercultural School from 2014 until the present in the wake of child abuse allegations. Throughout this time Dr. Anderson has been working with international schools in Southeast Asia developing, delivering and refining training tailored to the needs of schools serving the expatriate and local populations, with culturally-diverse needs, recognising the special concerns of Third Culture Kids and Families.

For over a decade Restorative Community Concepts has been engaged in supporting International Schools in the Southeast Asia region in the aftermath of suicides, child protection allegations, student deaths and other incidents affecting the international school community. As a resource for the community, the resource page is updated regularly with articles and documents of interest, linked here. To see previous clients, see here.

Crisis Response Resources

Documents to assist survivors of crisis cope in the aftermath of trauma can be found on the Resources Page.