Helping children deal with trauma in the news

Disasters occur – whether natural or manmade – and when they do they are often given constant media coverage. Journalist Sara El Sayed looks at how constant exposure to trauma in the news and online can affect children and what teachers can do to help.

Today, 34% of Australian children eight to 13 years old use social media, with 82% of teens accessing social networking sites on a regular basis. As a result, their exposure to news which may be traumatic is unparalleled.

Research conducted by the Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner found that children spend 19 hours online outside of school hours. And for teens it is even higher, at 33 hours.

The easy and seemingly unlimited access to the internet most young Australians enjoy allows them to be more exposed to media coverage of disastrous and traumatic events.

Media coverage during times of disaster is important as it can help to provide people who have been affected by the disaster with news and information about where to go, how to access help and when it is safe to return to their homes.

Indirect exposure

However many people, especially children, can become absorbed by the constant news stream about the disaster and sometimes watch or listen for hours.

Researchers agree that viewing extreme trauma indirectly through the media affects children’s mental and emotional health.

Media access brings worldwide events close to children and often in a very crude way, through the news, internet or social media.

It can involve intrusive, unedited images portraying extreme acts of violence or footage of natural disasters that can be intense. Young children in particular do not have a sense of spatiality and rarely understand the concept that these events may have occurred far from their current location.

Instead, these almost live events can cause feelings of unsafety, hopelessness and helplessness.

According to the Trauma and Grief Network’s tip sheet Disasters, the media and your child, seeing media coverage that contains graphic and scary images can cause distress or worry for children and adolescents.

Children and young people will also often discuss what they have seen in the media with each other – meaning that even if they do not see it on television or social media, they are still exposed to it by their friends.

Professor Beverley Raphael – former Head of the Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine at the Australian National University and Chairperson of the Australian Child and Adolescent Trauma, Loss and Grief Network – said that feelings of fear and uncertainty are what strike children when they are exposed to trauma in the news.

Sense of security

“Exposure to news and media coverage of trauma and disasters opens up a child’s vulnerabilities in a very intense way,” Professor Raphael said.

While parents play an important role in managing the effects of their children’s exposure to disaster media, according to the Childhood Trauma Reaction: Teacher Manual, teachers are in a unique position to identify children who are experiencing difficulties following a natural disaster because of their role, expertise, and extended contact with children.

“One of the most important things for an educator to do is to give their students a sense of security and safety,” Professor Raphael said.

“It’s important for a child to know that good people – their teachers and school staff – are there to make them feel safe and secure.”

Professor Raphael said if teachers notice that children are becoming noticeably stressed about what they have seen or know about disasters, teachers should focus on reassuring their students that they are not in harm’s way.

“Let the children know what’s happening and how they will be kept safe at all times at school.

“Of course educators will have to address the disaster at hand – but they should do so by explaining to children that a tough time is being experienced without dwelling too much on the negative aspects of the disaster.

“The focus should be on making sure the children understand that they live in a strong country and they will be looked after,” Professor Raphael said.

Closer to home

The Childhood Trauma Reactions: Teacher Manual also highlights that what an adult perceived as threatening may be very different to the child’s experience.

For example, in the context of natural disasters, parents may feel that their life or the life of their child was threatened.

The child however, may be much more concerned about being separated from their parents and family during or immediately after the trauma. The fear of separation may continue for weeks or months following the trauma depending on the age of the child and the severity of threat.

Professor Raphael said educators can calm these separation anxieties by reassuring children that their parents are safe.

“Telling young children that their parents are safe and that they will be with them soon will help in comforting them,” Professor Raphael said.

While educators play an important role in helping children deal with exposure to trauma through the news, it is also critical that educators appropriately deal with the effect it may have on themselves in terms of self care.

In Professor Raphael’s paper Resilience and Self Care for Principals and Teachers, she outlines the need for educators to develop self care strategies to help deal with everyday stressors and adversities as well as with disaster after effects and new or ongoing trauma.

“The best thing for an educator to do is to have someone they trust – whether it be a colleague or friend – who they can discuss their anxieties with.

“Educators should know that their role in helping children understand and get through tough times is important – and to do this effectively, their own wellbeing must be looked after,” Professor Raphael said.

The Childhood Trauma Reaction: Teacher Manual can be accessed via education.qld.gov.au/studentservices/natural-disasters/resources/child-trauma-handbook.pdf and Professor Raphael’s paper Resilience and Self Care for Principals and Teachers can be accessed via earlytraumagrief.anu.edu.au/files/ACATLGN_Raphael_ResilienceSelfCare_D1_0.pdf

References

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4803729/

https://esafety.gov.au/about-the-office/research-library

http://earlytraumagrief.anu.edu.au/files/ACATLGN_Raphael_ResilienceSelfCare_D1_0.pdf