If you are concerned about your child, it is best if you consult a qualified mental health specialist who has been trained to work with traumatic stress reactions. If left untreated, traumatic stress reactions can develop into more serious problems. To find a list of providers across Connecticut, please follow the link here or call 211.
Parents and caregivers can learn all they can about traumatic stress in children by reading the kidsmentalhealthinfo.com website, using the resource library within the Childhood Trauma section of the site and linking to other sites that we provide as resources.
Parents and caregivers can also:
- Provide support so that the child and family feel safe and secure;
- Advocate a supportive role by caregivers and others;
- Maintain healthy relationships with the child’s primary caregivers and other close relatives/friends;
- Help the child to return to typical routines as much as possible;
- Facilitate open but not forced communication with the child about his/her reactions to the traumatic event;
- Be patient and tolerant of your child during this time;
- Let the child know that you appreciate the seriousness of what they just went through;
- Reassure the child that the traumatic event was not their fault.
Help the child deal with grief from the loss of a loved one, help them through the grieving process by allowing them to be sad, talk about good memories of the person they lost, and try to learn as much as possible about how to talk to children about grief. Click here to learn more about traumatic grief from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.