Providing emotional support to infants, children and families during disasters

• Providing PFA to infants and children helps to address the immediate needs of distressed infants and children, but it can also enhance their coping strategies and allow them to acquire new skills to regulate their emotions.
• Providing PFA to parents supports them to manage their own emotional reactions and provide calm, reassuring support to children.

Learn more about providing PFA in the disaster response fact sheet, Providing psychological first aid to infants, children and families.

1. Soothing infants and helping children to feel calm can reduce their stress response, which will support their future recovery. Use verbal, vocal and visual cues for calmness. For example, use a friendly and calm tone of voice and slower delivery, and slow down your movements. Maintain open and friendly body language by gently smiling with a relaxed face.
2. Some children (and adults) may seek assurance through physical touch, such as a hug, holding hands or leaning on you. Infants may be soothed by you holding and gently rocking them. Remember it’s important to ask the child (and parent) for permission before picking up and holding or hugging them.
3. Eye contact can be important when providing support, but sometimes children and adults may not want to maintain eye contact or tolerate a direct gaze. Sit beside or on a slight angle to the person, with your arms relaxed at your side or resting on your knees.
4. Model ways to engage and soothe infants such as singing, gentle movement and rhythm, warm baths and swaddling.
5. Encourage parents to connect with their children as a way to promote a sense of safety and calm if you notice signs that children are seeking reassurance from family members through physical contact. Common signs include seeking physical affection, being more clingy than usual, wanting to be held, being restless or irritable, crying or having difficulty sleeping.

• Have open, honest and age-appropriate conversations with children about what’s happening.
• Reassure children that there are people who are helping (e.g. emergency responders). Tell them what is happening and update them if plans change.
• Use simple language and concrete examples that everyone can understand. Avoid graphic or frightening details that could increase distress.
• Encourage children to ask questions, and express their thoughts and concerns about the disaster. Create a supportive environment where they feel comfortable sharing their feelings and asking for help if needed. Listen attentively to their concerns and validate their experiences, offering empathy and understanding.
• While encouraging expression is important, reflecting on potentially traumatic experiences can be distressing. Help create safety by telling children it’s OK for them to express their feelings when they are ready and avoid pushing them to talk.

What to say 

Instead of directly asking a child to discuss what happened, you might say something like:

‘I know that what happened was really scary, and it’s OK if you’re not ready to talk about it right now. If you want to talk later, I’m here to listen.’

Be thoughtful and observant when talking with a child and their family; notice their ability or willingness to engage with you and respect their wishes if they need more time or decline to speak to you. Offer to return at another time if appropriate.

Children may feel overwhelmed by the chaos and unknown impacts that are a result of disaster. Knowing what to expect can offer them a sense of control and familiarity. Maintaining routines and offering familiar objects can help restore feelings of safety and security.

• Where possible, encourage and support families to keep routines or establish new ones, even when the circumstances are challenging. Examples include sticking to regular mealtimes, bedtime routines and familiar activities.
• Encourage children to have comfort items with them, such as a favourite toy or blanket. Familiar objects can provide children with a sense of security and predictability despite the uncertainty, and help foster hope that a ‘new normal’ is possible. If such items have been left or lost, you may be able to comfort children and provide them with a new focus by offering an item at the evacuation/relief centre.

Play is a natural way for children to express emotions, connect with others, process their experiences, and engage in a normal activity amid chaos. It supports their emotional regulation and resilience during and immediately after stressful situations.

• Imaginative play, storytelling or even structured games can help children cope with stress. For example, provide toys like dolls or action figures to facilitate role-playing scenarios where children act out their feelings or re-enact comforting situations.
• Use interactive games to encourage collaboration and problem-solving. These can help distract children from distressing thoughts or circumstances, while fostering a sense that they have control and mastery over their environment.

When few resources are available, simple games like Duck, Duck, Goose and Simon Says can engage children in play.

Practising certain coping strategies can be ideal for managing emotions and reducing stress. Once physical safety is restored, model these coping strategies yourself, and encourage children and their parents to do the same whenever they are feeling sad, scared, anxious or overwhelmed.

Coping strategy examples

• Offer the child more reassurance and warmth than usual (e.g. extra smiles, cuddles, speaking in a calm tone).
• Use deep breathing exercises such as ‘box breathing’ (breathe in for the count of five, hold for five, breathe out for five, and hold for another five). Playing with children’s toys like bubble bottles and wands are also ideal for regulating their breathing.
• Practise mindfulness techniques such as the five senses grounding activity or progressive muscle relaxation.
• Provide materials that encourage creativity, such as colouring pens and paper for drawing or journaling.
• Undertake physical activities such as ball games and stretching to release tension.
• Sing to infants in a soothing way or lead a singalong to a child’s favourite songs.
• Read books together – such as the child’s favourite stories or, when parents and children feel ready, books written to support and comfort children who have experienced a disaster (e.g. the Birdie’s Tree online or printed storybooks).

It is crucial to respect children’s autonomy and provide them with choice regarding the activities that can support their emotional wellbeing during or immediately after a disaster. If a child is unwilling to engage in play or another suggested coping strategy, validate their feelings and offer alternative forms of support.

1. Powell, T., Muller, J. M., & Wetzel, G. (2023). Evidence-based interventions for children and families during disaster recovery: Trends, lessons learned, and future directions. In: Ortiz, S. E., McHale, S. M., King, V., & Glick, J. E. (Eds.), Environmental impacts on families (pp. 23–39). National Symposium on Family Issues, 12. Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-22649-6_2.