We were lucky to catch up with Rachel Tepfer-Copeland recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Rachel, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Thanks so much for taking the time to speak with me again.  I wrote my first book, I Can Be A Superhero During A Lockdown, after the shooting at Santa Fe High School.  While all shootings are horrendous, this one hit very close to home.  At the same time, my oldest son, in preschool at the time, had a terrifying experience during a lockdown, and I knew I needed to figure out a child-friendly, developmentally appropriate way to teach him how to stay safe during an active shooter emergency.  I looked everywhere for an appropriate book, however all of the ones available were either written for older children or not appropriate for children of all abilities. 

In our home we use a lot of social stories to teach everything from the scary to the mundane, and I knew that a social story would be the best way to teach my son a difficult new skill, so I decided to write my book in a social story format.  For those that don’t know, social stories are a tool created to help guide an individual through a specific experience or expectation. Social stories are written in a first-person perspective and use a formula of very specific, positive, affirming language. Although originally created for autistic children, social stories are helpful tools for kids of any and all abilities and can help the child learn and memorize new, and potentially difficult or anxiety provoking, skills.

After writing I Can Be A Superhero During A Lockdown, I decided to self-publish my book in the hopes that it could help other kids and families as well.  Soon after it was published, I Can Be A Superhero During A Lockdown became a best seller. It is now being used in school curriculums across the US and has been recognized by many safety professionals and organizations, including Safe and Sound Schools and Safe Havens International, Inc, the largest K-12 school safety program in the world. 

In general, my hope and mission is that my books can serve as a tool for parents, educators, mental health professionals, and more to teach kids of all abilities how to stay safe during an emergency, as well as to decrease anxiety around lockdowns in general.  Many children with different abilities are not taught how to keep themselves safe during an emergency or have to depend on others to keep them safe—for example an autistic child who is unable to stay quiet during a lockdown or a child in a wheelchair who is unable to evacuate. In addition, at many schools, disabled children are frequently left of out drills because the drills are “too traumatizing” and a huge (and upsetting) number of schools do not have appropriate policies or procedures for kids with disabilities. 

My hope is that my books will encourage discussions among safety professionals, administrations, and teachers regarding these gaps in safety and security in the schools and that we can work towards an inclusive safety and security protocols and procedures for every child in all schools.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Sure! I have worked professionally with thousands of children and their families since 2003. As a Certified Child Life Specialist, I provided support, education, and intervention to children and their families in the hospital during difficult and traumatic situations. As an Early Childhood Intervention Specialist, I provided developmental care to young children with disabilities in their homes and in the community. I received my undergrad from Stephen F. Austin State University and my Masters in human sciences with an emphasis in psychology and education from Our Lady of the Lake University. My husband and I live in Texas with our three young sons.

I am currently a stay-at-home mom to our three boys, a homeschool educator, the director of a large group of high risk/immunocompromised families, and the author of The Super Safety Series. 

My series currently has three books, with a fourth to be released in the coming months. The second book in The Super Safety Series, I Can Be A Superhero During A Fire Drill, was created after numerous parents and professionals contacted me and asked for a child-friendly and developmentally appropriate book highlighting what to do during a fire drill at school. The third book in the series (as well as the soon to be released fourth) are supplemental activity and idea workbooks useful for parents, teachers, administrators, and other professionals in the community. Inside you will find sample letters, emergency checklists, and discussion points for teachers, administration and staff, a discussion guide for parents, worksheets and activities for kids of all developmental levels and abilities, coloring sheets, and so much more.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Self-publishing a book is a very time consuming, exhausting, and amazing process. As a self-published author, you are in charge of every aspect of the book and its creation. However, the most time consuming- and important- aspect of successfully creating a best-selling book on your own happens after it has been published.

I spent hours contacting school safety specialists, sending out sample copies of I Can Be A Superhero During A Lockdown to teachers, influencers, and professionals, speaking with the survivors of active shootings and their families, and in phone conferences with professional organizations like Safe and Sounds Schools.

I also spend a lot of time advocating in the disability community for the need for child-friendly, developmentally appropriate, and trauma informed procedures and protocols for children of all albitites.

I believe that my education, background, and passion have helped me to create and maintain a positive reputation, but I believe another aspect that has helped me is that I encourage asking hard questions and having difficult conversations and that I am not afraid to fight for the safety of every single child in our nation.  The horrific massacre in Uvalde showed us that schools can have an amazing school safety protocol in place and still be vulnerable.  Each of us has to be ready to ask hard questions and demand answers.  I spend a lot of time educating and encouraging parents, teachers and staff members to advocate for children and have those hard conversations.

Some of the questions that I encourage anyone who schools outside the home to ask their schools’ administrators, school board, and superintendents include questions such as: How many points of entry and exit are there in the school and how are they secured?  Who can enter and exit through these doors—when and why?  Do all classrooms have the ability to lock from the inside and is this encouraged and/or mandated? How/when are substitutes trained for active shooter emergencies and what does that look like? What do policies and procedures for children with disabilities look like (i.e. Kids who can’t evacuate, hide quietly, can’t run, shut down or have meltdowns when upset, etc.)  How are special health needs handled during a prolonged lockdown? Does the school use options-based teaching (such as ALICE or Run, Hide, Fight) or lockdown drills and what research was used to make this decision?  What is the plan for active shooter/lockdowns in large open spaces such as a cafeteria, gym, or playground?  Does the school have a reverse evacuate plan and has it been practiced?  If your school has portables, how are those kept safe and secured?  How do students enter the school to use the restroom and still keep the door secured during the rest of the school day for schools that have portables? Are parents and volunteers able to come and go during special events, first day of school, special programs, etc.?  If so, how is this kept safe?  Does the school have a dedicated safety coordinator? What is their background, education and training? 

These are just a few of the questions we should be asking.  It’s easy to try to ignore the situation.  It’s upsetting and hard to talk about. It’s easy to hope that everything is ok, to say “it’s never happened here, my kid feels safe.” But it is up to each of us to ensure that our children are safe and we all have to do the hard work.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

Honestly, so much about this adventure has felt like a risk!  Speaking out about my son’s terrible school experience while living in a small town, educating others about active shooter emergencies and receiving hate mail, educating others about the lack of policies and procedures for kids of all abilities.  Entering into the school safety school and being taken seriously as someone who doesn’t have the same kind of knowledge about school safety and security overall (although I’m learning!) but does have a strong background in child development and trauma.  It’s all been tough.  Putting yourself and something you have created out there always feels like a risk because who knows if someone will like it or find it helpful?  Add in the difficult nature of this topic and it has been it a sometimes-bumpy road.  I’ve been very thankful and fortunate that I have received so much support from my own family, as well as from parents, teachers, and numerous safety specialists.

I think one of my favorite marketing stories, and one that shows that marketing can happen in so many different ways, occurred after I suddenly saw a huge jump in sales for my books and schools began purchasing bulk orders for curriculums.  While searching online, I came across an article in the Houston Chronicle about how I Can Be A Superhero During A Lockdown was read by a Montgomery ISD Police Officer to a kindergarten class. During a lockdown, two of the children in the class worked together, remembering the rules in the book, and hid in a bathroom stall to keep themselves safe. The article features the police chief and his wife, a therapist, along with the principal of the school, discussing the importance of the book and how it resonates with students.

At around the same time, school counselors across the US started posting pictures of the book and the discussions they were having with students. It is so exciting to me that professional are seeing the importance in taking a proactive approach in preparing children for lockdowns and active shooter emergencies, instead of a reactive approach and waiting until something terrible happens. After all of my hard work in marketing and advertising, my best marketing strategies haven’t been ones I have engineered, they have been word of mouth and true experience from kids, families, and professionals. Which feels good to know that people are finding value in what I created.

One thing that I always try to impress on everyone is that my moment of action was after my son’s horrible experience during a lockdown soon after the Santa Fe shooting.  Your moment is now. We have so much work to do as a country to ensure that all of our children are safe and the importance and the hard work rests on all of us.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.RachelTepferCopeland.com
• Instagram: racheltepfercopeland
• Facebook: RachelTepferCopeland
• Linkedin: Rachel Tepfer Copeland, MA, CCLS