Natural Disasters: Helping Kids During Crisis
This resource from the American School Counselor Association contains resources for educators and caregivers to support youth in the aftermath of a natural disaster.
Fire Related Resources
The resources below are meant to support those in any community after a fire related event. These resources were compiled after the Marshall and Middle Fork fires impacted communities in Boulder, Louisville and Broomfield. Since then, many wildfires have impacted communities across the world.
Tips for Navigating Scary Events and Supporting Youth
These resources, created by CRWS, offers guidance for adults who surround youth to support them in conversation and in structuring their environment when scary things happen in the world. Click the resource below to learn more about talking with children and teens. Each resource is available in English and Spanish below.
Resources in English and Spanish
- Talking to Children When Scary Things Happen (English, Spanish)
- Talking to Teens When Scary Things Happen (English, Spanish)
- Creating Supportive Environments When Scary Things Happen (English, Spanish)
- Helping Your Family During Scary, Hard and Uncertain Times (English, Spanish)
- Well-Being Practices: Gentle Reminders in Times of Stress (English, Spanish)
Resources in Response to Wildfires
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network has developed resources to help children, families, and communities navigate what they are seeing and hearing, acknowledge their feelings, and find ways to cope together after a wildfire. Resources include:
- Parent Guidelines for Helping Children Impacted by Wildfires (En Español)
- Preparing Children After a Wildfire Damages Your Community
- Wildfires: Tips for Parents on Media Coverage (En Español)
- Simple Activities for Children and Adolescents
- Strategies to Manage Challenges for EMS and Other First Responder Families
- Trinka and Sam: The Big Fire – e-book for young children. (En Español)
- Helping Youth After Community Trauma: Tips for Educators
- After a Crisis: Helping Young Children Heal
- Age-Related Reactions to a Traumatic Event
- Helping Young Children with Traumatic Grief: Tips for Caregivers
- Helping School-Age Children with Traumatic Grief: Tips for Caregivers
- Helping Teens with Traumatic Grief: Tips for Caregivers
- The Power of Parenting: How to Help Your Child After a Parent or Caregiver Dies
- Childhood Traumatic Grief: Youth Information Sheet
Psychological First Aid and Skills for Psychological Recovery
The NCTSN also has resources for responders on Psychological First Aid (PFA; En Español). PFA is an early intervention to support children, adolescents, adults, and families impacted by these types of events. The PFA Wallet Card (En Español) provides a quick reminder of the core actions. PFA Handouts include:
For community and mental health providers who plan to continue working with affected communities long-term, review Skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR; En Español) and take the SPR Online course
Resources to Support Firefighters:
The Center for Firefighter Behavioral Health has resources for firefighters, providers supporting them, and their friends and family, including the Helping Heroes web-based training.
Available from the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress at the Uniformed Services University and other partners:
- Sustaining the Psychological Well-Being of Caregivers While Caring for Disaster Victims
- Safety, Recovery and Hope after Disaster: Helping Communities and Families Recover
- Leadership Communication: Anticipating and Responding to Stressful Events
- Wildfire Smoke Factsheet: Protecting Children from Wildfire Smoke and Ash
Disaster Helpline
SAMHSA has a Disaster Distress Helpline – call or text 1-800-985-5990 (for Spanish, press “2”) to be connected to a trained counselor 24/7/365.
Additional Resources:
For those that are needing technical assistance or additional resources, please don’t hesitate to contact Dr. Melissa Brymer from the NCTSN at mbrymer@mednet.ucla.edu or your local NCTSN CRWS Center, Dr. Monica Fitzgerald, at monica.fitzgerald@colorado.edu
Other Resources
- Recovering From Wildfires, From the American Psychological Association
- Coping With Trauma and Stress in the Face of Wildfire, from Zero to Three
- How Do Natural Disasters Affect Mental Health, a general resource on mental health related impacts after disasters