
Age-Related Reactions to a Traumatic Event
Describes how young children, school-age children, and adolescents react to traumatic events and offers suggestions on how parents and caregivers can help and support them.
Floods are the most common natural weather event and are temporary conditions when an area is overcome by water or mudflow. Floods occur under many conditions including: hurricanes, tsunamis, overtopped levees, snowmelt, overflowing drainage systems, and heavy rainfall. They most commonly affect those who live or work in low-lying areas, near water, behind a levee or downstream from a dam—areas where water can accumulate, overflow, or be quickly released. Most floods occur over a period of days and in the same region, providing time for formal warnings and preparation. Others, such as flash floods, may occur rapidly and without warning.
Being prepared beforehand is the best way to help children and families recover after a flood. To improve their preparedness, families should:
After a flood, most families will recover over time. The length of time will depend upon the extent of the flooding, if the evacuation was sudden and frightening, the extent of damage and loss, as well as how well the family copes with post-flood stresses. The amount of support from family, school, and community also helps to reduce the extent of impact. Some families will be able to return to their normal routine quickly, while others will have to contend with significant hardships, financial difficulties, frequent moves, and potentially health issues.
The ways that parents and other caregivers cope during and after the flood influence children’s functioning. Children often turn to adults for information, comfort, and help. Parents and teachers should try to remain calm, answer children’s questions honestly, and respond as best they can to requests. Children and adolescents do better when they understand the event they have just gone through.
In response to the recent flooding, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network has the following resources to help families and communities.
Describes how young children, school-age children, and adolescents react to traumatic events and offers suggestions on how parents and caregivers can help and support them.
The national Disaster Distress Helpline (call or text 1-800-985-5990; for Spanish, press “2”) is dedicated to providing crisis counseling and support 24/7/365 for anyone in the U.S./territories experiencing emotional distress or other mental health concerns related to any natural or human-caused
Aims to help survivors gain skills to manage distress and cope with post-disaster stress and adversity. This course utilizes skills-building components from mental health treatment that have been found helpful in a variety of post-trauma situations.
Helps parents talk to their kids about the disasters they may face and know how best to support them throughout—whether sheltering-in-place at home, evacuating to a designated shelter, or helping your family heal after reuniting.
Lets responders review PFA guidelines and assess their readiness to deliver PFA in the field.
Is a handout from Psychological First Aid Field Operations Guide (PFA). This handout provides parents with common reactions after a disaster, ways to respond to those reactions, and examples of things you can say to your adolescent.
Is a handout from Psychological First Aid Field Operations Guide (PFA). This handout provides parents with common reactions after a disaster, ways to respond to those reactions, and examples of things you can say to your infants or toddlers.
Is a handout from Psychological First Aid Field Operations Guide (PFA). This handout provides parents with common reactions after a disaster, ways to respond to those reactions, and examples of things you can say to your preschool-age child.
Is a handout from Psychological First Aid Field Operations Guide (PFA). This handout provides parents with common reactions after a disaster, ways to respond to those reactions, and examples of things you can say to your school-age child.
Includes a 6-hour interactive course that puts the participant in the role of a provider in a post-disaster scene. This course is for individuals new to disaster response who want to learn the core goals of PFA, as well as for seasoned practitioners who want a review.
Gives guidance on responding to disaster or terrorism events using the Psychological First Aid intervention. This evidence-informed approach helps to assist children, adolescents, adults, and families in the aftermath of disaster and terrorism.
Makes it easy to provide quality support to survivors. Users can navigate pre-deployment preparation, on-the-ground assistance, post-deployment resources, and more—at the touch of a button from the home screen.