Following park shooting, experts stress importance of talking to children about traumatic events
Following park shooting, experts stress importance of talking to children about traumatic events By Jon Evans | May 6, 2021 at 3:33 PM EDT - Updated May 6 at 4:15 PM
Cristen Williams, a licensed social worker and Director of School-Based Services at Coastal Horizons Center, says everyone will have a different response to these events, and some children might handle the situation better than others.
“When kids experience a scary event, for some it may turn into something that affects them long-term, and that’s when we start looking at things like a PTSD, or post-traumatic stress diagnosis,” Williams said. “We also know that some kids are going to deal with it, and with the right support and can get over it, for the lack of a better term, fairly quickly, knowing that they are safe, they are loved, they are cared for, that their feelings are valid.”