Multilingual Trauma Resources to Help Children and Youth Process Violence

The Child Mind Institute, childmind.org, has developed resources to support those who are helping children and adolescents process violence. This includes parents struggling to explain what happened to their kids, adults caring for children directly affected, and teachers who may wish to address the shootings in class.

Anyone can freely access these expert-informed materials including our multilingual trauma resources (available here in 16 languages) and the trauma and grief section of our Family Resource Center. Here is some specific information you may find useful:

Helping Children Cope With Frightening News
How to Talk to Kids About School Shootings(includes guidance helpful for any shooting)
The Teacher’s Role When Tragedy Strikes

Terrorism and War Sharpen Focus on Traumatic Effects of Violence on Babies and Toddlers: Resources Available to Help Children, Families

It’s difficult for parents and caregivers under profound stress to convey the sense of unconditional love and security that every baby needs and deserves, and that instability can also have lifelong consequences. Even miles and continents away from an explosion or gunshot, countless families are grappling with how to best support their children who may be seeing or hearing about violence. And many families have relatives and close friends in war-torn regions who are being directly affected. ZERO TO THREE has developed several free resources for parents, caregivers and professionals who support them, that offer guidance on helping young children grieve and process traumatic experiences and enabling them to provide the best care for babies and themselves in times of war and turmoil:

A Big Impact on Little Kids: Understanding How Traumatic Experiences Affect Very Young Children
How to Talk to Young Children About War (available in Arabic and Hebrew)
Little Listeners in an Uncertain World
Helping Toddlers Cope with Grief and Death
Mindfulness and Self Care: Building a Resilient Community and Culture of Caring
Children’s Book: Once I Was Very Very Scared by Chandra Gosh Ippen – available in several languages with links in the full article.

Sesame Street: Offering Comfort in Scary Times

Watch the video together and let kids know it’s good to ask questions about the [scary or confusing] things happening around them. Here are more ways you can offer your child comfort:

Give your child a comfort item like a stuffed animal or blanket.
Hold hands and snuggle often.
Choose one routine you can all count on to continue even when your situation or location has changed, such as the same lullaby every night, or observing the shape of the moon before bed.
Look for the “helpers.” Focus on all the people around you working to make things better.
“Belly breathe!” Put your hands on your bellies and take three deep breaths in and out, feeling your bellies rise and fall. Put a stuffed animal on your child’s belly and have him “rock it to sleep” as he breathes.
Try to prevent children from seeing disturbing images on television or online.

Supporting Children Affected by Trauma (Video Series and Discussion Questions)

This series is aimed at providing basic awareness to early childhood educators about how experiences with trauma may manifest in the classroom, how educators might respond in the moment to trauma-related behaviors, and how to set up the classroom environment to support children with a variety of needs and build the resilience of all children. The three videos include:

Understanding the Potential Effects of Trauma on Young Children (7:51)
Creating Classroom Environments that Build Resilience (6:26)
Responding to Trauma-Related Behaviors in Early Childhood Settings (8:25)

Safe Spaces: Foundations of Trauma-Informed Practice for Educational & Care Settings (Video)

Safe spaces, developed by the Office of the California Surgeon General, is a free, online training designed to help early care providers, TK-12 educators and other school personnel recognize and respond to trauma and stress in children. Each module is about two hours and is filled with case examples, videos, strategies and practices. Select the module(s) that best fit your professional needs:

Learn more and take the training https://osg.ca.gov/safespaces/

Responding to Trauma Related Behaviors, Video and Discussion Questions

When young children have experienced trauma, it affects their behavior and interactions in the classroom. How can early childhood teachers and caregivers respond to trauma-related behaviors in order to best support children’s needs? In this video experts, including Dr. Bruce Perry, discuss how the organization of the brain affects children’s response to trauma and discuss regulatory and relational strategies that are most effective at supporting children demonstrating trauma-related behaviors. The experts caution against using behavioral strategies for children who have experienced trauma. Discussion questions and related videos are also available here.

Culturally Responsive Trauma Informed Practice Modules

CECO has released 5 training modules on Culturally Responsive Trauma Informed Practice in 2023. They are available in English, Spanish and Chinese. Log In or create an account to view them and many more training modules on CECO for early learning and care professionals.

Understanding Stress and Resilience in Young Children (Video Series)

You may have heard of ACES, Adverse Childhood Experiences, from the famous TED talk by Nadine Burke Harris, former Surgeon General of California. This video series summarizes what we know about ACES and applies it to support for families in Head Start programs. These powerful videos hold the stories of people who have experienced ACES and professionals who have identified and supported children and families exposed to ACES. The video series is a must see for those who work with vulnerable populations.

Operation Breaking Through houses the largest Head Start program in Missouri. It models a multi-disciplinary approach and includes a partnership with a local children’s hospital. It was designed to raise awareness and educate. It provides the perspectives of parents, Head Start staff, health care professionals, and others on the issues of adverse childhood events (ACEs), toxic stress, and resilience.

Watch the videos in this series to learn how high levels of stress can impact a child’s lifelong health and well-being. Find out how Head Start programs and health care professionals can support children and families to help prevent early childhood stress.

Use these videos to generate interest and support for activities in Head Start and Early Head Start programs and in partner organizations that help identify and care for families affected by ACEs and toxic stress. The User Guide includes a breakdown of the video segments by topic area.

Explore related resources on ECLKC to learn more.

The Ultimate Guide to Talking About Tough Topics with Young Children

In this article, you will find important information about how to talk to children about common tough topics, including shootings, death, racism, mental health, illness, divorce, and more. Also find a step-by-step guide with a free PDF printable handout for talking to kids about tough topics, in general, tips on trauma-informed care, and book lists to help guide children to exploring tough topics in an age-appropriate way.

‘We Cannot Afford to Ignore Disabled Voices:’ Changing the Way We Talk About Covid

Disability rights activist Emily Ladau, author of Demystifying Disability, an NPR and Booklist editors’ pick for 2021, argues that ableist language holds us back from not only having more productive conversations about Covid, but developing more effective policies to confront the pandemic.

Read on for her curated list of some of the most crucial journalism on how tangibly these oversights affect people whose lives have already been disproportionately upended by Covid, as well as tips for improving your understanding of ableism and the huge and diverse disability community.

Multilingual Trauma Resources to Help Children and Youth Process Violence