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Emotional First Aid
By Lynda Shingledecker Wheeler
So, what can you do if you find yourself going through a crisis with your children/students? Victims and witnesses of traumatic events have three immediate needs:
- Safety and Security: freedom from fears and terrors associated with the event, sensory perceptions, and how thoughts and feelings are encoded;
- Validation and Ventilation: the need to tell the story of their experiences, understand the patterns of trauma reaction, and then recognize the human commonality of that pattern; and
- Predict and Prepare: facing the future and preparing for how they might cope, including identifying sources of strength. 1
Specific things you can do:
- Provide safety, security, and support
- Create a "safe place" where children can talk openly and express themselves.
- Listen and respond to verbal and nonverbal cues.
- Notice and acknowledge things about children.
- Give children reassurance and encouragement.
- Provide structure, stability, and predictability with FLEXIBILITY!.
- Provide [classroom] activities that facilitate coping
- Provide activities that encourage kids to share experiences.
- Apply their experiences to their academic studies (i.e., writing essays, etc.).
- Look for ways that they can appropriately express their response(s) or emotions about the situation.
- Provide an "out" for children who are struggling and may not want to participate, yet continue to try to include them.
- Do something for others in need
- Ways to help kids at home
- Look for self-medication (food, extra activity, etc.).
- Recognize importance of family time/devotions.
- Remember identity issues/cultural differences in responding.
- Encourage kids to talk to someone (if not you).
- Do something for others in need.
- Acknowledge grief stages — denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance.
- Recognize ripple effect2.
- Encourage Parents to do the following:
- Spend time with their children
- Identify stressors in their children's behavior and get help if needed
- Maintain some structure & boundary — a sense of normalcy to their family routines
- Take care of yourself!
- Acknowledge your own feelings.
- Recognize how you cope with stress.
- Talk to someone about what you are going through.
- Try to maintain a perspective on your situation.
- Manage your stress by taking a step back from work, exercising, allowing time off for fun, etc.
- ASK for help!
You can't help your children if you are not aware of your own stress and needs.
Here is a downloadable copy of this information.
Emotional First Aid Lyn Shingledecker Wheeler, 2013-07-08 Download "emotional_1st_aid.pdf", Acrobat PDF document, 45KB [693 downloads] |
Permission to copy, but not for commercial use.
1 | The above information comes from"Common Reactions to Trauma" excerpted from the National Association of School Psychologists. |
2 | A spreading series of effects or consequences caused by a single event. |