Sometimes news2day has to report on really sad and awful news stories. The report from the awful tragedy in Donegal is an example.
Reem spoke to psychotherapist Joanna Fortune about how we can deal with stories that upset us. It's really helpful and can be used any time.
Watch the interview with Joanna up top and read on here...
Here are some great tips and things to remember if you are upset.
- Feeling sad about sad news events is a very normal way to feel, in fact feeling sad at sad times is exactly how we are supposed to feel.
- It can be hard to feel those feelings and they are feelings that can be hard to talk about but talking can help us
- Think who the safe and trusted grown-ups in your life are. Perhaps your parents, your child-minder, your teacher for example. These are people in your safety network who you can bring your difficult feelings to and they will help you to make sense of what is happening.
- For some of us, it helps to talk things through. Turning our feeling into a story by talking about them with someone else who can help us better understand our thoughts and feelings is one way. Try saying something like, "I'm having a hard time with my feelings, can I talk with you about how I'm feeling?"
- For some of us it is hard to talk about our feelings, we may not like talking about these things and that can make us keep big feelings inside us and make us avoid the people who might ask us what's wrong. Instead, try going to your grown-up and saying something like, "I have some big feelings right now but I don't want to talk about them but it would help me to hang out with you. Can we do something together". You can suggest kicking a ball around, making a jigsaw, watching a movie on the sofa together or even offer to help prepare dinner.
- When big sad or scary things happen in the world we see and hear a lot about it on the news. It can make us scared that something like this could happen to us or the people we care about. These events are very sad and they are rare. That means they do not happen very often. It can help to remind ourselves of that.
- When I am looking at sad news stories and I start feeling sad, I switch my focus to the helpers. When something sad or scary happens there are always lots of people helping. Maybe some people are making sandwiches and tea for helpers, maybe you can see the fire-fighters or paramedics or people driving diggers or rescue vehicles. You will always see people hugging, comforting and minding each other. Always look for the helpers because it helps us remember all the good in our world.
- Because there is so much news coverage it can feel like a lot and sometimes too much for us. Take breaks from the news stories when they feel too much for you. Ask your grown up to change the radio or TV station to something else or walk outside to get some air and move around for a while. That helps. Other things that help are to play, play whatever you enjoy most. I like to play some music and dance my feelings out; I make big movements and spin around and stamp my feet and wave my arms about and it helps me. I like to try a jigsaw puzzle because it gives me a different challenge to think about. I also like to draw and might draw what I think my feelings would look like (what shape, size, colour or texture they are). And I like to go outside to play and hang-out with my friends when I need a break from the serious things.
Joanna Fortune is a psychotherapist, that means that she is someone who helps people to understand how they think and feel about things.
She gives advice on the radio and TV and newspapers to help people understand tricky feelings and experiences. She also writes books to teach grown-ups all about play and how important it is.
