Responding to Tragedy: Resources for Educators and Parents
When tragic events happen, it can be difficult for educators, administrators, and parents to know how to help children understand and cope. How adults manage their own reactions, as well as how they help students deal with their questions and feelings, are important factors in providing children with the support and guidance they will need. Below are some useful, informative, and thoughtful resources for adults to help children through traumatic situations. Some of these resources are relevant to parents as well as educators.
Addressing Trauma and Grief at Home and in the Classroom
Tips for Talking to Kids About Trauma: The Greater Good Science Center produced this resource following the Paris attacks; it includes helpful information for starting a dialogue with children following traumatic events. You'll find tips for helping students express themselves as well as a list of outside resources for helping children respond to grief and trauma.
Resources for Responding to Trauma and Tragedy: This collection from Edutopia features resources in a variety of areas, including trauma's effect on learning, supporting students who have experienced trauma, and more. There are links to Edutopia content and also articles and guides from around the web.
A Teachers’ Guide for Managing Emotional Reactions to Traumatic Events: The National Association of School Psychologists produced this guide for responding to traumatic events in the classroom. You’ll find strategies and tips for talking with students of all ages, with different guides for various age groups. Teachers will learn how to model coping strategies for students, and there’s a wealth of useful information about monitoring students’ emotions.
Helping Young Children Cope With Trauma: This downloadable PDF from the American Red Cross features a brief overview of how children of different age levels react to tragic events. A tips list details how families can respond and includes advice for when to seek professional help.
Resources for Managing Child Traumatic Stress: This is an exhaustive collection of information for helping children through a variety of stressful and traumatic situations. Produced by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, these resources are arranged by topic with guides, explanations, tips, and advice in each section. Additionally, NCTSN's Parenting in a Challenging World collection features tips relevant to parents.
Resources for Grieving Children and Families: From the New York Life Foundation and various partners, this site has a variety of resources for children, teens, and families responding to tragedy. Included are links to resources from the foundation’s partners, including Sesame Street Workshop, Scholastic, and Camp Erin, as well as outside links to useful resources.
Responding to Natural Disaster
Helping Children Cope With Natural Disaster and Catastrophe: Bright Horizons produced this helpful guide, "What Happened to My World," which offers assistance to parents and adults who want to talk to young people about natural disasters and the effects on communities. Bright Horizon’s guide provides powerful tips for working with children of any age and strategies for offering honest, reassuring answers to their questions.
Helping Children After a Natural Disaster -- Information for Parents and Teachers: This is a comprehensive resource from the National Association of School Psychologists. It’s part preparation guide, part crisis-response resource. This guides features strategies for responding to a variety of disasters and for helping children cope. (Note: This is just one resource from the NASP; the organization hosts a wealth of resources online for many different situations.)
More Resources for Responding to Tragedy From Edutopia
More Resources From Around the Web
- Talking to Kids About Tragedy (GreatSchools)
- Talking to Children About the Shooting [PDF] (NCTSN)
- 10 Tips for Talking With Students About Tragedy (Scholastic)
- Empower Students in the Face of School Violence (Kid Power)
- Best Resources on Talking with Children About Tragedies (Larry Ferlazzo)
- Coping with School Violence (PTA)
- Parenting in a Challenging World (National Child Traumatic Stress Network)