AFTER   travelling 14,000 km and hosting 30 events across the country, R U OK?’s Conversation Convoy has pulled up at its final destination on the Esplanade in Cairns, in time for R U OK?Day, 14 September.

The conclusion of the Convoy is marked by a three-hour concert featuring some of the most talented ambassadors – including Ben Lee, Travis Collins, Louise Adams, Steven Oliver, Tullara Connors, Big T, James Van Cooper and former Skunkhour front man and brother of R U OK? founder, Aya Larkin.

The R U OK? Rocks Cairns concert brings artists and performers together to highlight the importance of mateship and connection. Los Angeles based Australian performer Ben Lee said, “I’m a big believer in the power of human beings connecting with each other. It’s a simple remedy to so many of life’s problems.”

The Conversation Convoy hit the road after research indicated that one in three Australians are still uncomfortable asking, ‘Are you ok,’ of those who are struggling with life.

With suicide rates over 2.5 times higher in many regional and remote areas of the country, the Convoy visited communities in the NT, the Kimberley in WA and across the Nullabor to towns as far inland as Bourke, NSW to promote the four steps to having a conversation; Ask, Listen, Encourage action  and   Check in.

According to The Centre for Regional and Remote Mental Health, people in major cities are twice as more likely to access a psychologist than their regional and remote counterparts.

CEO Brendan Maher said R U OK? wanted to show all Australians they have a set of resources at hand to check in with anyone they might be worried about.

“We already have assets available to us, those being our eyes, ears and mouths which are sometimes held hostage by fear and stigma,” he said.

“We are trying to create a world where those who are struggling receive the love, care and support they need from the people around them. We all have what it takes to ask someone if they’re ok and if they’re not, that’s where the four steps can help navigate a path to help-seeking.

“We know our 2017 Conversation Convoy has planted seeds in the communities we’ve visited and passed through. We hope it acts as a spring board to asking people if they’re ok 365 days a year, not just on our big day.”

For the fourth year in a row, Conversation Partner Virgin Mobile is offering their customers free standard calls within Oz today to check in with family and friends.

 ‘R U OK? Rocks Cairns’ on R U OK?Day

Where: Fogarty Park Sound Shell, The Esplanade, Cairns.

When: 7.30am to 11am

ENDS

For support at any time of day or night, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For more info, visit ruok.org.au.

 For interview, image requests or survey results, please contact:

Cairns:

Lizzy Thomas:  lizzythomas@liquidideas.com.au  or 0400 922 919

Lisa Minner: lisa@ruok.org.au or 0456 475 033

Sydney:

Tess McPherson: tessmcpherson@liquidideas.com.au 02 9667 4211 or 0432 101 113

Simone Smith: simonesmith@liquidideas.com.au 02 9667 4211 or 0422 046 342

Available for interviews:

• Brendan Maher, R U OK? CEO
• Katherine Newton, R U OK? Campaign Director
• Rachel Clements, R U OK? Conversation Expert and Clinical Psychologist
• Ben Lee, R U OK? Supporter
• Steve “Commando” Willis, R U OK? Ambassador
• Travis Collins, R U OK? Ambassador and performer
• Louise Adams, R U OK? Ambassador and performer
• Big T, R U OK? Ambassador and performer
• Aya Larkin, R U OK? Board member and former Skunkhour lead singer
• Tullara Connors, R U OK? Ambassador and performer
• James Van Cooper, R U OK? Ambassador and performer

Notes to Editors:

R U OK?

• R U OK? is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to inspire and empower everyone to meaningfully connect with people around them and support anyone struggling with life
• R U OK?Day is a national day of action, held on the Thursday 14 September, 2017
• Every day is the day to start a conversation. Conversation tips and crisis numbers can be found at ruok.org.au

The research was conducted on behalf of R U OK? by Colmar Brunton and via the Colmar Brunton and Your Source Omnibus, which interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1,025 Australian adults (aged 18+). It excludes people who’ve participated in the previous three weeks and data is post weighted to ABS proportions. The margin of error associated with the results is +/- 3.0%.

*The Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health:  https://www.crrmh.com.au/content/uploads/Briefing-Paper_FINAL_11052017.pdf

Thank you to our sponsors: Liptember, Hungry Jacks, Flight Centre Foundation, Virgin Mobile and the Audi Foundation.

It started as a simple conversation about a child’s birthday party. But it quickly escalated into a full-blown marital rift. She accused him of neglecting the family. He said she was yelling.

“Whatever,” she said. “Go. Go.”

“Go where?” he replied.

“I don’t know,” she told him. “I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”

The bickering parents were among 43 couples taking part in an Ohio State University study exploring how marital interactions influence a person’s health. Every couple in the study — just like couples in the real world — had experienced some form of routine marital conflict. Hot-button topics included managing money, spending time together as a family or an in-law intruding on the relationship.

But while marital spats were universal among the couples, how they handled them was not. Some couples argued constructively and even with kindness, while others — like the couple fighting about the birthday party — were hostile and negative.

What made the difference? The hostile couples were most likely to be those who weren’t getting much sleep.

“When people have slept less, it’s a little like looking at the world through dark glasses,” said Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, a longtime relationship scientist and director of the Ohio State Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research. “Their moods are poorer. We’re grumpier. Lack of sleep hurts the relationship.”

The men and women in the study had been married from three to 27 years. They reported varying amounts of sleep — anywhere from three and a half to nine hours a night. Each couple made two visits to the lab, where the partners were prodded to talk about the issues that caused the most conflict in their relationship. Then the researchers analyzed videos of their exchanges using well-established scoring techniques to assess positive and negative interactions and hostile and constructive responses. After all the data were parsed, a clear pattern emerged.

Couples were more likely to be hostile — like the couple fighting about the child’s birthday party — when both partners were functioning on less than seven hours of sleep.

Notably, the couples with more than seven hours of sleep still argued with each other, but the tone of their conflict was different. Consider this couple discussing concerns about spending and budget challenges.

“Do you want to try taking over the budget?”

“I can’t. I don’t want to.”

“I understand.”

“You’re just being too accepting. You can tell me I’m crazy.”

“You’re not crazy.”

Although the couple had indicated they regularly argued about money issues, getting adequate sleep seemed to give them the patience to approach conflict in a constructive way.

“It’s not the fact that the couples were disagreeing,” Dr. Kiecolt-Glaser said. “It’s the lack of sleep and the way in which they disagreed.”

She continued: “The better functioning couples could do it with humor and kindness but clearly still disagree. The poorer functioning couples could get pretty nasty.”

The notion that better sleep makes a better marriage isn’t entirely new. A large body of research suggests that sleep-deprived people are more unpleasant and even hostile in their social interactions than those who get adequate sleep. People tend to use more negative words when they are sleep deprived than on days when they have had a full night’s sleep. A 2010 study found that men were more likely to fight with their wives after a night of disturbed sleep. In a 2014 study, couples who reported poor sleep during a two-week period reported more daily marital conflict than those who got better sleep.

But the Ohio State study went a step further to measure how marital discord combined with sleep deprivation can become toxic to a person’s health. Each partner in the study also gave blood samples, before and after the fight with their spouse. The samples were to measure markers of inflammation, which has been linked with heart disease, cancer and other health problems.

The study found that when married partners got less sleep, not only were they more likely to have hostile conflicts, but they also had higher levels of inflammatory proteins in their blood after those conflicts. In short, marital discord is more toxic to your body when you haven’t gotten enough sleep.

“Lack of sleep not only hurts the relationship,” said Dr. Kiecolt-Glaser, the senior author on the study, which was published in May in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology. “It makes relationship conflict harder on the body.”

There was some good news from the study. When one partner got more rest, it was possible to mitigate the impact of sleep deprivation on the other partner. Couples with one rested partner were less likely to engage in hostile exchanges than when both partners were sleep deprived.

“Sleep and conflict worked together to increase inflammation, but both partners’ sleep mattered,” said Stephanie Wilson, the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral fellow at Ohio State. “When one person was rested, it protected the couple from being more nasty to each other.”

Sleep problems in a relationship aren’t uncommon. The National Sleep Foundation found that nearly 25 percent of couples sleep in separate beds. Other research shows that having a bed partner affects how much and how well a person sleeps. And when one relationship partner doesn’t sleep well, his or her partner is more likely to report poor health and well-being.

While the recent study examined only heterosexual married couples, the findings likely are relevant to all couples, including cohabiting couples and gay and lesbian partners. “These are universal relationship processes,” said Dr. Wilson. “Just knowing these effects can happen can help people keep in mind the importance of getting a good night’s sleep and treading carefully with conflict.”

91COMMENTS

The lesson, say the study authors, is that before concluding a relationship is in trouble, couples who regularly experience conflict should take stock not only of the relationship and how they are managing conflict, but also of their sleep habits.

“Losing sleep here and there and coming across interpersonal tensions in daily life is really common for people,” Dr. Wilson said. “These are small vulnerabilities that may add up. It teaches you the importance of getting rested every night and handling disagreements in a mindful way.”

Australia is going through a well-documented housing affordability crisis(link is external). Single parents are especially vulnerable to rising housing costs, as they rely on a single income to provide a decent home for the family. Past research(link is external) has found that:

In 2013-14, 46% of … low-income couple families and 67% of one-parent families with dependent children in private rental housing paid more than 30% of their income on rent.

These families are facing “housing affordability stress(link is external)”. Taken together, rising housing costs and diminishing family benefits are putting low-income Australian families, and especially those that break down, at risk of intense financial stress, housing insecurity and possibly homelessness.

In my recent research(link is external) with Jan van Ours, we used a unique dataset of disadvantaged Australians, Journeys Home(link is external), and showed that parental separation increases the risk of becoming homeless.

Finding the relevant data

In our study(link is external), we used a broad characterisation of homelessness, which seeks to identify situations in which families’ housing conditions do not meet standard requirements to qualify as a “home”.

This is qualitatively similar to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ definition(link is external). Homelessness includes:

• sleeping rough or squatting in abandoned buildings;
• staying with relatives or friends temporarily with no alternative; or
• staying in a caravan park, boarding house, hotel or crisis accommodation.

Parental separation can lead to homelessness in many ways. For example, a separation might require an urgent move, which generates a financial shock. Without enough savings or networks of family and friends to help cover this unexpected expense, low-income parents may be unable to afford secure and safe housing for their family and hence become homeless.

Financial pressure on single-parent households increased again in April when legislation(link is external) that froze or reduced entitlements to several family benefits was passed.

Even less-disadvantaged parents, who may be able to cope financially in the short run (by covering housing costs with their savings, for example), may be unable to do so in the medium run (once those savings run out). They then become homeless a few years after the separation.

Parental separations can also create conflict between parents and children. This may drive children out of their parent’s home and potentially into homelessness in subsequent years.

What did our research show?

In the Journeys Home(link is external) sample, family breakdown appears to be an important trigger for homelessness. Of those who have experienced homelessness, 62% of respondents(link is external) cite family breakdown or conflict as the main reason for becoming homeless for the first time.

However, the research linking parental separation and homelessness is scarce. This is because most of the available datasets are not well suited to this purpose.

Disadvantaged populations – that is, people who have experienced homelessness – are underrepresented in general household surveys. And datasets that include only people who are currently homeless fail to capture other segments of the disadvantaged population who might be at risk of homelessness.

In contrast, Journeys Home is unique in that it covers a broad spectrum of the disadvantaged population, not just those currently homeless. In fact, 75% of respondents(link is external) were not homeless at the time of the first interview.

At the same time, the high frequency of homelessness and parental separation in the sample provides enough occurrences to help us answer the question of a potential causal relationship between the two.

We exploited Journeys Home’s detailed information on respondents’ histories to investigate whether their parents’ separation (if ever) led to their first experience of homelessness (if ever).

We found that parental separation increases the overall likelihood of becoming homelessness, although the risk for any individual is influenced by the particular characteristics of both the family and the individual. The effect is substantial.

For boys, their risk of becoming homeless by age 30 increases by ten to 15 percentage points. This is irrespective of their age when the separation occurs.

For girls, only parental separation before the age of 12 matters. This increases their likelihood of being homeless before 30 by 15-20 percentage points.

The effects of separation on homelessness are larger when the parents were formally married.

These results constitute a critical first step in understanding how individuals, and in particular children or young adults, become homeless. They highlight the role of parental separation in the process and hence the need to act on the issue of housing affordability for disadvantaged families that break down in order to protect children from poverty and homelessness.

This article was originally published on The Conversation(link is external).

The feature image is by Isaac Holmgren(link is external), CC0 1.0(link is external).

https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/2017/06/08/family-break-raises-homelessness-risk-and-critical-period-longer-boys

Sydney, 29 August – White Ribbon Australia announced today the launch of a world first Workplace Culture Dashboard. The Dashboard provides a view of attitudinal and behavioural changes in organisations as a result of the Workplace Accreditation Program delivered by White Ribbon.

The White Ribbon Workplace Accreditation Program has collected 150,000 qualitative and quantitative responses from workplace program participants across Australia. The analysis of this data enables White Ribbon and organisations to further benefit from more targeted interventions in response to their individual culture.

White Ribbon commissioned KPMG to build the Dashboard based on their analysis of the survey data from 160 organisations that have participated in the White Ribbon Australia Workplace Accreditation Program since 2012. The Dashboard represents the diversity of the data sets, which spans 22 industries and over 600,000 staff.

Initial analysis of the responses demonstrates the positive impact of this evidence-based prevention program in improving attitudes and behaviours towards violence against women and gender equality.

White Ribbon’s CEO, Libby Davies says, “Violence against women is a workplace issue affecting the health, safety and wellbeing of employees, organisational culture and reputation, and the bottom line. One in five women experience harassment in the workplace^[1], approximately two-thirds of women who experience violence are in paid work^[2], and 94 per cent of employees agree employers should take a leadership role in educating their workplace about respectful relationships between men and women^[3].

“We work directly with organisations to develop the tools that drive positive workplace culture, which include policy, procedures, training and communication, to enable the workplace community to enhance skills and knowledge to address abuse and violence against women, and to strengthen gender equality.”

The Dashboard also has the capability to build workplace profiles based on the changes in: employee understandings of abuse and violence against women; attitudes and behaviours; organisational culture; the role of being an active bystander; and response to disclosures of violence.

“Workplace Accreditation gives employers across all sectors the means to create and sustain a working environment based on equality and mutual respect. The benefits of standing up and speaking out about men’s violence against women extend beyond the immediate office environment.

“The Workplace Accreditation Program’s Dashboard further strengthens the Program’s workplace insights, and provides an opportunity for business and governments alike to further their understanding of the importance of comprehensive workplace programs that target specific cultures and behaviours.  This Dashboard will be a critical tool in the ongoing independent evaluation of the Program,” concluded Ms Davies.

The surveys are a key part of the obligations of the workplace undergoing accreditation. Analysis of the White Ribbon Workplace survey data evidenced an improvement in understanding of violence against women since completing the Accreditation. What constitutes abuse and how it manifests was also better understood following the Accreditation process. It also shows an increased confidence to challenge inappropriate behaviour and support disclosures of violence.

The White Ribbon Australia Workplace Accreditation Program supports all employees to challenge inappropriate behaviour, hold perpetrators to account, enables support for victims of abuse and supports gender equality.

One of the 150,000 survey respondents said, “I think that as people are educated on the various forms of violence against women it changes their thinking and behaviour. I think some men would not have thought their actions fit into the category of violence until it was explained to them. If behaviour is accepted nothing will change, it takes a campaign like this to open people’s eyes to the damage their words or actions can have on another person.”

Accreditation takes 18 months to complete and lasts for three years, during which time the workplace must evidence an ongoing, sustainable commitment to the prevention of violence against women.

-Ends-

^[1] Australian Human Rights Commission (2008) Sexual Harassment Guide. Retrieved from: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/sex-discrimination/guides/sexual-harassment

^[2] Australian Bureau of Statistics, Personal Safety, Australia, (2005) (Reissue), Cat. No. 4906.0, 35. Retrieved from http://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/family-and-domestic-violence/publications/fact-sheet-domestic-and-family-violence-workplace#fn10

^[3] Pennay, D & Powell, A. (2012). The role of bystander knowledge, attitudes and behaviours in preventing violence against women: A full technical report. The Social Research Centre. Melbourne.

https://www.whiteribbon.org.au/2017/08/30/world-first-workplace-culture-dashboard-prevent-violence-women-strengthen-gender-inequality/

alk of reforming the Family Court and family law system is back in the headlines(link is external) , but agitation about the family law system has a long history.

Since the introduction of the Family Law Act and the establishment of the Family Court of Australia in 1976, there have been many parliamentary inquiries and numerous reforms. However, sad stories of parents who’ve had a tough time of the law continue to shape public and politcians’ perceptions(link is external) of how family law functions in Australia.

What does the empirical evidence say?

The findings from a large research program conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies tells many stories. One of the main ones is a good news story: most couples separate amicably, work parenting and property out for themselves and maintain good relationships with the other parent and their children after separation. This applies to more than 70% of separated parents.

There are also more complex stories in the data. One concerns the parents who do use the family law system. Where parents don’t work things out themselves, about 3% use court, 6% use lawyer-based negotiation and about 10% use family dispute resolution (FDR), which is a form of mediation. Since 2006, FDR has become much more widely used, with 10% of parents in 2014 using this mechanism, compared with 3% in 2006. At the same time, lawyers are used less (11% cf 6%) and so are courts (8% cf 3%).

The families who use the family law system are troubled. They are much more likely to have a history of family violence, concerns for their own or their children’s safety as a result of ongoing contact with the other parent, mental ill health, substance abuse, gambling, problematic social media or pornography use.

https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/2016/08/03/separated-parents-and-family-law-system-what-does-evidence-say

Voluntourism is a concept born of travel and humanitarianism, or tourism and solidarity. Some travel agencies seize this marketing strategy in order to attract a clientele interested in giving a humanitarian objective to one’s vacation plans, and indeed to one’s broader existence, in underprivileged countries. This new alternative tourism market rakes up tens of millions of euros annually by sustaining poverty and disrespectful approaches to human rights.

Tens of thousands of voluntary clients travel to unknown countries without an understanding of local situations. They pass themselves off as doctors, teachers or lawyers for a short time to the local population. Businesses provide expensive travel packages (from 800 to 2’000 USD). Children and their families are excluded from these financial gains.

In Asia, especially in Laos, Thailand, Burma and Cambodia, voluntourism is a growing business. These perverse, money-making schemes hide behind the guise of aiding poor children placed in orphan care. Within the past 10 years, the development of voluntourism has abetted the three-part increase of orphaned children in Cambodia, which has gone from 7’000 to 47’000 in thirty years. Over 80% of children placed in such institutions have living parents.

Children from underprivileged families are withdrawn from families with the promise of education, food and better living conditions. Subsequently children are rendered unable to reconnect with their parents who are unable to fight the system.

In addition, according to Sébastien Marot, the co-founder of Friends International, “in order to ensure that the project remains lucrative, funds should not be invested, given that this would harm the product. The orphanage needs to remain in disrepair, and the children need to continue to be perceived as miserable”.

Experts and journalists on the ground are trying to shed light on the issue by means of investigation, denunciation and awareness-raising. For example, the International Volunteering Service is a Belgian, French and Vietnamese association that provides expertise in awareness-raising to educate potential clients of voluntourism business-schemes.

The NGO Friends International Switzerland also provides awareness-raising workshops to school-aged children, stressing the complex life-courses of children exploited by voluntourism, who are vulnerable to the coming and going of tourists which reinforces the feeling of abandonment.

http://www.childsrights.org/en/news/editorials/1639-voluntourism

Leaving an abusive relationship can be a dangerous and terrifying experience for many women.

There can also be a range of complex legal issues including child custody, intervention orders, tenancy contracts, and financial matters that can create barriers for leaving the relationship.

In a South Australian first, a collaboration between a major hospital and the Legal Services Commission is helping women access vital legal advice to escape violence.

The federally funded initiative allows Lyell McEwin Hospital staff to call in a special unit of lawyers who can provide mobile legal assistance to women at the hospital and domestic violence centres.

Legal Services Commission access services manager Chris Boundy said the lawyers’ mobility was crucial to the project’s success.

“It is a very important initiative, a very important step, because women who are in peril are not certain where to go,” Mr Boundy said.

“They’re not even sure how to reach out and by having this unique partnership with the hospital it is the hospital staff who identify women who could benefit from having some legal advice and then we’re able to respond and be here when we’re needed.

“The important thing is we come to them when it’s convenient and by being notified through health authorities we can have the mobility to ensure they don’t miss the opportunity to get proper legal advice.”

Mr Boundy said the lawyers in the domestic violence unit were well-qualified, empathetic and passionate about helping women get access to justice.

Northern suburbs mother Emma (not her real name) knows first hand the terror of feeling trapped in an abusive relationship.

“I was going through domestic violence at home and being that I wasn’t aware of what was around to help me I was stuck in that sort of position for quite some time,” she said.

Emma said legal advice helped her understand her rights and feel supported when she was confused and scared.

“Now I know where I stand, no matter what he says or does,” she said.

“I know that my child will be OK, and there are courts and laws out there that will stand up for that and keep her protected, as well as me.

Dr Martin Ritossa, a medical director at the Lyell McEwin Hospital, said the hospital had a strong focus on domestic violence.

“They’re often trapped, they often don’t know where to go and this is a great opportunity for the health system to get involved in assisting them,” Dr Ritossa said.

“The more we can collaborate the better and the more services we can provide at the same time the better.”

Hopes program will be expanded

Northern Domestic Violence Service case manager Melanie Dekorte said expert advice and support could make a huge difference to vulnerable women.

“That’s vital in breaking the cycle of domestic violence and just creating that confidence they need to seek support and having that face-to-face contact is absolutely imperative, it’s really important for them,” Ms Dekorte said.

“They’ve been told during their relationships usually that they have no rights, that ‘if you leave me I’ll take the children and take you through [the] Family Court. I’ll keep the house, you’ll be homeless, I’ll cut off financial ties’.

“So when you look at all the different tactics of domestic violence that are used by perpetrators it is overwhelming for a woman to even make the decision to leave that partner in the first place.”

Ms Dekorte said the support was important to help women take back control of their lives.

The initiative is funded for three years under the Federal Government’s Women’s Safety Package and Mr Boundy hopes it can be expanded throughout South Australia.

“We’re hoping that during this three years we can develop a template that will encourage the federal authorities to go on with the funding so that we can hopefully be involved in the establishment of a similar sort of arrangement in other areas of need,” he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-13/domestic-violence-victims-get-legal-help-via-sa-project/8800472

Parents wondering how to talk to their children about tragedies such as natural disasters and terrorist attacks have a new resource to help them, published online in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics.

“There have been a lot of changes in how we receive news and the types of news we receive, which has impacted the information that kids are exposed to,” said Megan Moreno, a pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist at Seattle Children’s Hospital, who wrote the one-page primer intended for parents and other adults.

The content of the page is based on recommendations given by HealthyChildren.org, a website run by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“Families used to sit together to watch the evening news, which was generated by professional journalists and filtered carefully,” Moreno said. “Now we receive news on our phones, and there are no filters.”

News is always bombarding us, even on channels we may not expect — such as social media, where children spend their time, she added.

“You may log onto Facebook to look at cute cats or funny videos and then see a tragic news story,” she said. “This has impacted how adults interact with news, and it’s important to step back and think about kids as well.”

The primer explains that adults can help their children by being a calm presence, reassuring them about safety, maintaining a routine and spending extra time together. It’s fine for children to see adults be sad or cry and for families to express their feelings together, though intense emotions may be tougher for children to handle. Tragedies may also present a good time for families to discuss emergency plans and ways they could help survivors and their families.

“It’s always important to talk to kids when things are upsetting them, even if there isn’t a crisis event or big story in the news at the moment,” said David Schonfeld of the University of Southern California. Schonfeld, who wasn’t involved with the patient page, researches the best ways to support grieving children.

“In the aftermath of a major event, people are focused on the event itself and less on how to talk to kids,” he said. “You have more energy and capacity to consider how you should approach the discussions when you’re not struggling with the content yourself.”

Regardless of the children’s age, the best way to start is by asking what they already know, the patient page says. Parents may be surprised what kids hear elsewhere or what misconceptions may be picked up. Listen carefully and ask what questions they have; respond honestly, and avoid speculating about what might happen next. Most important, listen for underlying fears, and remind children that they’re safe and that it’s fine for them to be bothered.

“What we’ve found is that kids are often worried about something you wouldn’t anticipate,” Schonfeld said. “Adults habituate to upsetting daily news, and kids often don’t.”

For younger children, the patient page suggests, graphic images and sounds in news media coverage can be frightening, and having a discussion may be better than showing the news. Young kids may ask more questions about safety and need help separating fantasy from reality. They may also become clingy or regress to such behaviors as wetting the bed or thumb-sucking. Be patient and support children as they process the information.

With older children and teenagers, it may be impossible to avoid news exposure. Older kids may ask more questions about the tragedy itself, the recovery efforts and the causes of the event.

At all ages, children who have difficulty coping may have sleep problems, physical complaints such as headache or stomachache, behavioral changes such as acting less mature or being less patient, and mental-health changes such as heightened sadness, depression or anxiety. If you are concerned, talk to your child’s pediatrician.

“We need to talk about what worries them,” Schonfeld said. “If we don’t, we won’t be considered a credible source with additional worries in the future.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/how-to-talk-to-kids-about-disasters-terrorist-attacks-and-other-bad-news/2017/08/11/2a9b2006-7d4e-11e7-83c7-5bd5460f0d7e_story.html?utm_term=.3cacff968c0e