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Mental Health

Recovering from Disaster Stress

Disaster mental-health specialists, who have assisted survivors in the wake of disasters worldwide, suggest taking the following steps to reduce stress symptoms and to promote post disaster mental recovery:

Protect: Take care of the basics first. Find a safe haven that provides shelter; food and liquids; sanitation; privacy; and chances to sit quietly, relax, and sleep at least briefly.
Direct: Assess your situation and set immediate personal and family priorities. This will enable you and your significant others to preserve or regain a sense of hope, purpose, and self-esteem.
Connect: Maintain or reestablish communication with family, peers, and counsellors in order to talk about your experiences. Take advantage of opportunities to "tell your story" and to be a listener to others as they tell theirs, so that you and they can release the stress a little at a time.
Select: Identify key resources, such as the Red Cross, church groups, or government departments like Children and Family Services, for clean-up, health, housing, and basic emergency assistance.

Taking each day at a time is essential in a disaster's wake. See each day as a new opportunity to FILL-UP:

Focus Inwardly on what's most important to you and your family today;
Look and Listen to learn what you and your significant others are experiencing, so you'll remember what is important and let go of what is not;
Understand Personally what these experiences mean to you, so that you will feel able to go on with your life and even achieve personal growth.

- From the US National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome

HELPING YOUR CHILD COPE WITH TRAUMA

According to experts, children who experience an initial traumatic event before they are 11-years-old are three times more likely to develop psychological symptoms than those who experience their first trauma as a teenager or later.

But children are able to better cope with traumatic events if parents, friends, family, teachers and other adults support and help them with their experiences. Help should start as soon as possible after the event.

Here’s what adults should to look for to determine if a child has been affected and some suggestions on helping them through the trauma.

Signs that children may be affected include:

Becoming upset over the loss of a favourite toy or other things that adults may consider insignificant but which are important to the child.
Changing from quiet, obedient and caring to loud, noisy and aggressive, or from outgoing to shy.
Developing nighttime fears. Children may be afraid to sleep alone, without a light, or have nightmares, etc.
Being afraid that the event will recur.
Becoming easily upset; crying or whining.
Reverting to younger behaviours such as bed-wetting and thumb sucking.
Wanting to keep parents in sight and refusing to go to school or childcare.
Having symptoms of illness, such as headaches, vomiting or fever.
Worrying about where they and their family will live.

What can parents, teachers or other caring adults do?

Talk with children about how they are feeling and listen without judgement. Let them know it’s okay to have their own feelings, even if they are different from the feelings of others.
Let children take their time to figure things and feelings out. Don’t rush them or pretend that they don’t think or feel as they do.
Help them learn to use words that express their feelings, such as happy, sad, angry, mad and scared. Just be sure that the words fit their feelings—not yours.
Assure fearful children that you will be there to take care of them. Reassure them many times.
Stay together as a family as much as possible. Avoid leaving the children alone
Return as soon as possible to former routines or develop new ones. Maintain a regular schedule for the children.
Reassure children that the disaster was not in any way their fault.
Let children have some control, such as choosing what outfit to wear or what meal to eat
Include children in cleaning up activities
Parents must control their own fears and seek professional help if:
- Sleeping problem is prolonged
- Clinging behaviour doesn’t diminish
- Fear becomes worse

How Are You Feeling After the Disaster

Some ways to ease disaster related stress:

Talk with someone about your feelings even though it may be difficult – anger, sorrow, etc.
Seek help from professional counselors who deal with post-disaster stress
Don’t hold yourself responsible for the disaster event or get frustrated because you cannot directly assist in the recovery work
Stay active in your daily routine to help promote your own physical and emotional healing (e.g. healthy eating, exercise, rest, relaxation)

Announcements

Causeway remains open by IGNHOSTWSS1\tsmithsimons	9/15/2011 11:57 AM
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