Browse

By age

Mental First Aid for Children

Revital Ordan, Psychiatric Nurse;  Dr. Yuval Raveh, Director of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Mental Health Division, Ministry of Health
12 October 2024

What to do if the child experiences mental distress

Some basic principles can help to improve the ability to cope with various distressful situations, including crises. Every child is different, so you should think about how you can personally adapt the apply the to them, their age and their personal abilities.

  • 1
    Maintain a routine

    It is important to make sure that the child is in a safe and protected place and to maintain a regular routine and schedule to the extent possible. Maintaining a routine helps instill a sense of security.

  • 2
    Significant presence

    A significant figure such as a family member or friend should be close during difficult moments. Presence can include hugging, talking and even sitting next to the child om silence, these are assistive actions. It is important that you never leave the child to cope alone.

  • 3
    Normalizing emotions and legitimizing the feeling of distress

    Allow the child to express their emotions and help them understand them. It is important to help them separate facts from thoughts and feelings. This can be done by asking them to describe the facts and help them distinguish between them and thoughts and feelings that float and arise. Questions to ask in situations of emotional distress:

    • Where were you when it happened? What did you do?
    • What was the first thing you thought of?
    • How did you feel when it happened?
    • What helped you to feel less distressed?

  • 4
    Maintaining function and the role of physical activity

    Encourage the child to perform an age-appropriate activity on a daily basis. Promote physical activity such as walking, ball games and dancing with you.

  • 5
    Creating a quiet stimuli-free environment

    Shared coping with children in a group largely helps but in extreme circumstances such as a panic attack or unusual behavior, keep the child away from other children and then perform an intervention that will help the child regain function.

Note

Note

The MAASEH model for mental health first aid adapted for children and adolescents

The Ashan Dak model

Information and resources

Information on the government services website