With disturbing details emerging from the Douglas Garland trial every day, you might struggle with how to talk to your kids about the case.

"There could be a really good chance that children may have exposure to the case and some of the details around it based on how easily available information is through social media today," said Caren Anderson, Counseling Services Supervisor with Community Links, "So if your child is coming to talk to you about it, I think it is really important to validate and listen, and too, try to be as open as possible about the grief and loss and the traumatic incident. Any traumatic incident, for that matter."

Anderson said it's important to approach any discussion about traumatic events like the Garland case with honesty, yet discernment.

"I think it's really important to validate the feelings and questions that children are having so we're not ignoring what's going on and we are talking about things like safety."

Anderson explained that being open with children and helping them navigate traumatic events in the news can help them better process their own feelings and helps them to know it is alright to talk about hard subjects.

"I think it allows an open space for children to come to you when they do have concerns or problems going on in their life, and if you do shut that down in the moment and don't talk about it, they may feel like they can't talk about some those more difficult situations or hard feelings."

Anderson said that by shutting down those conversations, children might believe that difficult subjects aren't safe to talk about, and therefore be less forthcoming about their own challenges or traumas in the future.

 

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