Resources for Processing Trauma

The resources below provide expert guidance for parents and educators on how to assist students and children in the wake of traumatic events. This includes best practices for addressing violence that has occurred in one's community and processing media coverage of such incidents.

• Tips for Talking to Children and Youth After Traumatic Event (Parent and Educator Guide) - Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Center for Mental Health Services (SAMHSA): This brief guide provides tips for how to talk to children who are processing a traumatic incident as well as some steps to take when talking is not enough

• Supporting Students Experiencing Childhood Trauma: Tips for Parents and Educators - National Association of School Psychologists (NASP): Covers risk factors, warning signs and impacts on education that arise from trauma as well as tips for how to help

• Talking to Children About Violence: Tips for Parents and Teachers - NASP: Guidance on talking with children about high profile acts of violence that may elicit fear, confusion and anger, includes best practices for different developmental age groups

  • See the info graphic below for a condensed version of tips from this article:

  • Talking to children about violenceCompanion Info Graphic (English)

  • Talking to children about violence Companion Info Graphic (Spanish)

• Child Trauma Toolkit for Educators - National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTS): This in-depth guide covers common effects of trauma on students and best practices for identifying and assisting students experiencing trauma

• Tips for Parents on Media Coverage - NCTS: Tips for addressing the reactions of young people to media coverage of traumatic events

• Helping Children with Tragic Events in the News - PBS: A guide for helping young children understand scary or confusing images in the news and ways to help them feel more secure

• Teacher Guidelines for Helping Students after Community Violence - NCTS: Includes common reactions to community violence that students may experience and ways that teachers can address those reactions in the classroom

• Resources to Respond to Tragedy and Violence - Civics Course Implementation Blog (Illinois Civics): This excerpt outlines tips and resources for structuring classroom conversations about tragedy and violence that occur in the news or the local community