Last of two parts
I WILL conclude my column on the statement and recommendations of the Psychological Association of the Philippines on school violence.x`
They say that the factors that increase risk or provide protection operate across multiple levels of young people’s lives. Therefore, no single person, profession, institution, or intervention can prevent school violence. Prevention is a shared responsibility that requires coordinated action among young people, families, schools, communities, mental health professionals, policymakers and systems of care.
Young people themselves can contribute to safer and more supportive communities by seeking help when needed. They can also support peers without taking on responsibilities beyond their capacity, and share concerns about safety with trusted adults. The responsibility for responding to these concerns and ensuring safety, however, rests with adults and the institutions and systems designed to protect them.
Schools play a central role within this broader shared responsibility. The PAP encourages educational institutions to strengthen comprehensive school mental health systems that provide a continuum of promotion, prevention, early identification, timely intervention, and access to mental health care (National Center for School Safety, 2024).
Schools should promote psychologically safe, inclusive and supportive learning environments through positive school climate, social-emotional learning, and anti-bullying initiatives. They can also promote emotional regulation and conflict resolution skills, mental health literacy, and help-seeking among students.
For students experiencing emerging concerns, schools should provide additional support such as counseling, skills-based interventions, mentoring, behavioral consultation, parent engagement, and coordinated monitoring. This will address the emotional, behavioral, academic, or interpersonal difficulties before they escalate.
For students experiencing significant psychological distress, persistent behavioral challenges, or elevated safety concerns, schools should coordinate individualized and multidisciplinary interventions. These may include comprehensive psychological assessment, individualized mental health treatment and family-based interventions. They can also include case management and referral to specialized mental health services.
Effective school mental health systems also require adequate access to qualified professionals, including licensed guidance counselors, psychologists, social workers, and other mental health, health and child protection professionals. Schools should ensure adequate staffing and manageable student-to-professional ratios, guided by professional standards and the needs of the school population.
This will ensure that students receive timely, meaningful and sustained support rather than assistance only after concerns have already escalated. Mental health, counseling, psychological assessment and intervention services should be delivered by professionals with the appropriate education, training, licensure and competencies.
Comprehensive school mental health systems enable schools to respond across a continuum. This ranges from promoting well-being for all students, to addressing emerging concerns early, to coordinating individualized care for those with more significant needs. They are, however, only one part of a broader approach to prevention.
Preventing school violence also requires coordinated action across families, communities, institutions and broader systems. Shared priorities include:
– Strengthening partnerships among schools, families, communities, child protection systems, mental health professionals, and other service providers;
– Strengthening safe, inclusive and supportive environments that foster belonging, connection, nonviolence and opportunities for meaningful participation among children and adolescents;
– Encouraging parents, caregivers, educators, leaders, public figures, and other influential adults to model empathy, respect, nonviolence, responsible communication and constructive ways of responding to conflict and disagreement;
– Adopting multidisciplinary approaches to identifying and responding to significant emotional, behavioral, social or safety concerns through timely, developmentally appropriate, culturally responsive, trauma-informed and non-stigmatizing support;
– Considering multidisciplinary behavioral threat assessment and management approaches as part of broader school safety and student support efforts (National Threat Assessment Center, 2021);
– Promoting responsible digital citizenship, media literacy, and healthy online engagement among children and adolescents;
– Promoting responsible firearm ownership and secure firearm storage practices, particularly in households with children and adolescents; and
– Developing coordinated crisis preparedness, response, recovery, and postvention protocols to support school communities before, during and after critical incidents.
In sum, preventing school violence is not the responsibility of schools alone. It requires sustained collaboration across the relationships, environments and systems that shape children’s and adolescents’ lives. A shared and comprehensive approach strengthens protection, responds to concerns early, and coordinates support when needs become more significant. It also creates environments in which young people can experience safety, connection, belonging, support and hope.
As the national professional organization representing psychologists and other members of the psychology profession in the Philippines, the PAP reaffirms its commitment to advancing evidence-based, trauma-informed and developmentally appropriate approaches to violence prevention, child protection and mental health promotion.
Drawing on expertise across the diverse fields of psychology, PAP and members of the psychology profession contribute through research, assessment, consultation, psychoeducation, capacity building, systems development and multidisciplinary collaboration.
The PAP stands ready to collaborate with government agencies, educational institutions, local government units, civil society organizations, professional groups, and communities by:
– Providing psychological expertise and technical guidance on developmentally appropriate and trauma-informed approaches to school violence prevention, response, and recovery;
– Supporting psychosocial recovery, mental health and resilience-building initiatives following critical incidents;
– Advancing public education on child and adolescent development, school safety, violence prevention, digital well-being and responsible public discourse;
– Contributing psychological expertise to research, policy and multisectoral initiatives that strengthen child protection, school safety, mental health and violence prevention; and
– Strengthening professional capacity and interdisciplinary collaboration to promote the safety, well-being and healthy development of Filipino children and adolescents.
Tragic incidents involving children and adolescents evoke grief, fear and understandable calls for immediate action. During such moments, our responses must remain guided by compassion, scientific evidence, and a commitment to both public safety and child well-being. Preventing violence is a shared societal responsibility, and lasting prevention begins long before violence occurs.
It begins in the relationships, environments and systems that shape children’s lives. It is rooted in families that provide love and guidance, schools that foster safety and belonging, communities that offer connection and opportunity, and institutions that protect children and support their healthy development.
Every Filipino child deserves not only to be free from violence, but also to grow with dignity, hope, belonging and opportunities to flourish. Accountability, healing, rehabilitation and prevention are not competing goals, but complementary parts of a comprehensive response to school violence. Through sustained collaboration, compassion and evidence-informed action, we can create the conditions in which children and adolescents feel safe, connected, valued and supported to realize their fullest potential.
The professionals have spoken. Government, the private sector and all of us should follow this roadmap.
Danton Remoto’s books are available at Fully Booked, National Bookstore, Shopee, Lazada and Central Books; Kinokuniya in Asia; and Amazon globally.
