Africa

How to handle living in South Africa How to handle living in South Africa

Normal anxiety Fear vs. Fantasy Behaviors

Fight or flight Physical symptoms Denial Anger Freeze Sadness irritability

Cognitive errors Rituals (helpful and unhelpful) Talk about them Future V Present What if thinking

@ play On the way …

 Knowledge is empowering  Reassurance doesn’t reassure  Responsible exposure  Helpful behavioral habits  Creative containment

 Help your children to know! › Have the chat! › Stranger danger › Flight, Fright, Freeze

 Once the news is out … show them what to do! › Prepare › Practice › Role play › Remind › Empower

 Develop ‘’WE BELIEVE’’ family statements  We believe that we are safe unless otherwise indicated  We believe that nothing bad happened to us yesterday so the chances are nothing bad will happen today  We believe in our inner voice to tell us if we feel safe or if we don’t

 Creative containment of difficult feelings › Worry wart › Dream catcher › Sharing worries › Drawing worries/badies and burning them › Normalize worries › Share your own childhood experiences

 Know: where, when, who, how, what …  Create ‘’what if discussions? And responsible solutions’’  Let go …

 Helpful behavioral habits › moving in and out the car quickly › listen to mommy or daddy › Window positions › Seat strapping › Scheduled vigilance (e.g.: when driving into home) › Bag under seat › Greeting strangers › Sweets; stuff (distractions) › Balls in road (distractions)

What to do: Listen carefully Acknowledge feelings Look out for fears and fantasies Go for mastery Call a trauma debriefer

 Recurrent and intrusive recollections of the event  Recurrent and distressing dreams of the event (or any nightmares in children)  Intense distress when exposed to cues from the trauma  Efforts to avoid thoughts and feelings or conversations associated with the trauma  Efforts to avoid activities, places or people associated with the trauma  Inability to recall important aspects of the trauma  Diminished interest in significant activities  Feelings of estrangement or detachment  Restricted range of affect  Sense of foreshortened future  Difficulty with sleeping; concentration difficulties  Hyper vigilance; exaggerated startled response; anger

 When these symptoms get worse rather than better  When these symptoms persist for more than 1 month  When these symptoms impair normal social and work/school functioning

How Much is too much ? How Much is too much ?

When is anxiety normal and when is it not ? When is anxiety normal and when is it not ?

 It can’t happen on holiday  It can’t happen to me  Everyone has the same standards of safety as I do  Asking for help is a sign of weakness. I can manage it on my own  Its all fate and there is no way to avoid what happens to me