The therapy was supposed to bond the class. The girls cried over the cards and ended up in the hospital

Six female students from the Secondary Vocational School and the Vocational Secondary School in Kutná Hora ended up in the care of rescuers on Thursday morning. This happened after a preventive lecture by the school psychologist, during which long-term disagreements between female students were to be resolved in the classroom.

“As part of the regular preventive programs, a block was held in the class focused on the topic of student relationships in the class, because the students had been complaining about bad relationships in the class team for a long time. The program was led by the school psychologist in the presence of the class teacher. One girl cried during self-reflection, other students joined her. Some have collapsed,” the school later said in a press statement.

Monika Nováková, spokeswoman for Central Bohemian rescuers, told iDnes that the girls were agitated and hyperventilating. Three of them were subsequently taken to the hospital by paramedics.

“I certainly wouldn’t want to just sit in this school and wait for something to happen. I want to give them quality education in all our fields, but I see it as important that we also help them in the area of ​​mental health, which is really damaged by the current young generation,” says school director Josef Vavřinec in an interview for Seznam Zprávy.

Could you describe what exactly happened at your school?

It happened during the first lesson in one of the first-year classes, where the students are after elementary school, and so far, in this class, it has not been very successful to coordinate the team so that they cooperate in some way, as the class teacher would imagine.

Therefore, the school’s counseling office, which consists of two educational counselors, a prevention methodology and a special pedagogue, has been working to remedy this situation for several months. It’s really been worked on since the adaptation course that was at the beginning of the school year. Now the school psychologist, who had probably already worked individually with the pupils before, was also involved, and the therapy took place in the entire class collective.

Could you specify – at least in outline – what the issue was in class?

I don’t know specifically.

And do you know what exactly was the impulse that caused several girls to collapse?

This is a general therapeutic method with cards on which emotions, feelings or situations in which we find ourselves in life are shown, and they subsequently expressed themselves about each card, and during this self-reflection, one of the students cried. Gradually, several others joined her.

In response to this, other teachers, an educational counselor, the deputy director were called in, then it was reported to me. And since we noticed rapid breathing in the girls and didn’t want to underestimate it, we called an ambulance instead.

And how do you explain that the students became so upset that some of them ended up being taken to the hospital?

I think that the psychologist probably got a lot closer to the reason why, for example, the collective does not work exactly as imagined in the school. Some of them have already had a similar problem in the past (elementary school or another school). In addition, we see in practice that students after covid tend to show more belonging towards each other, so they join the one who is sad, then they stop controlling it and it can lead to some kind of health problem.

When you then discussed the matter with the participants and your colleagues, did you not find that there was any misconduct on the part of the school?

Of course, for every piece of information obtained here, this question was in the air, and I must say that neither I nor my representatives have discovered any wrongdoing.

In addition to the emergency services, the police also arrived at the scene. For what reason?

Due to the fact that the third ambulance was coming to our school, this event was reported to their integrated rescue system. The police evaluated it and were interested in it, which is why they came and were provided with basic information, they even discussed the matter with a psychologist. But it ended with the on-site investigation.

How do you view the fact that psychological prevention, which, according to you, was intended to improve the atmosphere in the classroom, went awry like this? Will this experience limit you in the future when organizing similar events?

We will certainly now be afraid to continue with this system. We have all-girl classes, we also have classes where there are only boys, and there has never been such a problem. Even during this meeting, it was heard from our school counseling office that they will think about it and put some measures on the table and possibly set certain changes so that this does not happen again, but it is difficult to predict.

I certainly wouldn’t want to just sit in this school and wait for something to happen. I want to give them quality education in all our fields, but I see it as important that we also help them in the field of mental health, which is really damaged in the current young generation.

And do you have any information on how the girls are doing now?

It is unofficial information, but one of the students was already released from the hospital and the other two were supposed to stay there overnight. But we didn’t find out in an official way, it’s mediated information.