The Child Mind Institute has prepared free trauma resources to aid parents, educators, and other adults in talking to children and adolescents about potentially traumatic events and identifying those who might benefit from more focused professional attention. Our children can be more sensitive to challenges around them because of their life experience and they need our support. We hope these resources will be of assistance in a trying time, and that you will share them with anyone you think might benefit. And remember to take care of yourself; your children depend on you most of all.
Helping Children Cope With Frightening News
When tragedy strikes, it can be hard to deal with your own grief and distress while helping your children do the same. But there are things you can do to help kids handle scary news. To break the news about an event that kids might see on the news, don’t wait to tell them. It’s better for them if you’re the one who tells them. Here’s what the article covers:
- Break the news
- Take your cues from your child
- Model calm
- Be reassuring
- Help children express their feelings
- Be developmentally appropriate
- Be available
- Memorialize those who have been lost
Caring for Kids After a School Shooting
This video features Paramjit Joshi, MD, the chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC. She discusses that the most important thing is to actually acknowledge that the shooting occurred.
How to Talk to Kids About School Shootings
This article talks about anxiety related to school shootings and how to be proactive in addressing it. School shootings have made a lot of parents in America anxious. Parents are often more worried about it than younger kids are. But kids pick up on their parents’ fear. And parents worry that seeing news reports of school shootings may be harming their kids.
Welcome to the Trauma-Informed Educator Training Series
The Trauma-Informed Educator Training Series includes four sessions that build on each other. In each session, you will learn and practice skills that you can start using immediately in your classroom and with students, hear from peer educators, students, families, and experts, and reflect upon your own goals and intentions as a trauma-informed educator. Mayerson Center for Safe and Healthy Children at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and McKinsey Health Institute collaborated to develop the Trauma-Informed Educator Training Series as a free, interactive training program for K-12 educators.
