Skip to main content
Print

Recovering with Mental Health in Mind

Children and adults who have experienced stress or loss may have difficulty coping. An emergency may also affect children and adults even if it does not harm them directly. For some children and adults, an emergency may be traumatic.

The good news is that, with the right support from the adults around them, children are usually able to cope and recover well. Most of the time they get back to feeling OK soon after an emergency. The most important way to help is to make sure children feel connected, cared about, and loved.

Offering safe places and resources like mental health consultants and other mental health providers are ways that early childhood programs support children, families, and staff who are recovering from an emergency. It is also important after an emergency to take time to assess your response to decide what worked, what did not work, and what mental health strategies can be stronger.

Share these tips with staff and families to support children’s mental health during the recovery phase of an emergency:

  • Focus on the children, not the trauma. Reassure them that they are OK and that adults will take care of them.
  • Help children feel safe and secure by allowing time for children to talk about what happened and share their emotions. Let children know that they are not to blame when bad things happen.
  • Get down to children’s eye level and speak in a calm, gentle voice using words they can understand. Be a good listener.
  • Offer ways for children to express their feelings and share concerns and reassure them often. Tell them it is normal to feel worried or upset; help younger children use words like “angry,” “afraid,” and “sad” to express their feelings.
  • If children are not ready to talk, encourage creative expression through play or drawing. Children who are nonverbal, have a disability, or have had trauma or losses before are especially vulnerable because they may not be able to express their emotions to caregivers.
  • Allow children to ask questions and answer their questions honestly in a simple, developmentally appropriate way.
  • Acknowledge loss or destruction but focus on efforts to clean up and rebuild. Talk to children about all the people who were there to help — like family and friends, the community, and emergency services workers.
  • Share stories about how people come together, find creative solutions to difficult problems, and let children know things will get better over time. Talking about these stories can heal and reassure both children and adults.
  • Model healthy ways of coping in tough times. Children watch adults to see how they should feel and react, so staying calm as much as possible helps. Let them know that it’s OK to have different feelings, and that they can always talk to a grown-up about what they’re thinking and feeling. Saying something like, “I get scared and worried sometimes too, and I know it can feel icky inside,” can reassure children that they’re not alone.
  • Because families, teachers, and other adults see children in different situations, it is important for adults to work together to share information about how each child is coping after a trauma.
  • After the disaster is over, let children help as appropriate. This can give children a sense of control. Familiar routines can also be comforting.

The Disaster Distress Helpline offers free, confidential crisis counseling and support 24/7 to people having stress, anxiety, and other symptoms of depression. Call (toll-free) 800-985-5990 (for Spanish press “2”), or text TalkWithUs to 66746 to connect with a trained crisis counselor.

Learn More:

Read more:

,  Safety Practices