Helping Children and Adolescents Cope with Violence and Disasters: What Rescue Workers Can Do - Helping Young Trauma Survivors

Written by NIMH

Help for all people in the First Days and Weeks

Key steps can help adults cope. Adults can then provide better care for children. Create safe conditions. Be calm. Be hopeful. Be friendly. Connect to others.

Be sensitive to difficult people. Encourage respect for adult decision-making.

In general help people:

• Get food
• Get a safe place to live
• Get help from a doctor or nurse if hurt

  advertisement

• Contact loved ones or friends
• Keep children with parents or relatives
• Understand what happened
• Understand what is being done
• Know where to get help
• Meet their own needs

Avoid certain things:

• Don't force people to tell their stories
• Don't probe for personal details
• Do not Say:
  • "Everything will be OK."
  • "At least you survived."
  • What you think people should feel
  • How people should have acted
  • People suffered for personal behaviors or beliefs
  • Negative things about available help
• Don't make promises that you can't keep
  • (Ex: "You will go home soon.")

How Children React to Trauma

Children's reactions to trauma can be immediate. Reactions may also appear much later. Reactions differ in severity. They also cover a range of behaviors. People from different cultures may have their own ways of reacting. Other reactions vary according to age.

One common response is loss of trust. Another is fear of the event reoccurring. Some children are more vulnerable to traumas. Children with mental health problems may be more affected. Children with experience of other traumas may be more affected.

Children Age 5 and Under

Children under five can react in a number of ways:

• Facial expressions of fear
• Clinging to parent or caregiver
• Crying or screaming
• Whimpering or trembling
• Moving aimlessly
• Becoming immobile
• Returning to behaviors common to being younger
  • Thumb sucking
  • Bedwetting
  • Being afraid of the dark

Young children's reactions are strongly influenced by parent reactions to the event.