​​​Why is it important to be prepared emotionally for disasters or emergencies?

• Going through a traumatic event can create a number of losses, which may bring uncertainty and anxiety about the future. Your environment might have changed a lot. Adjusting to new things can be hard.
• Being emotionally prepared for a disaster or emergency can help you reduce your stress and anxiety. If you can manage stress every day, it will help you cope during challenging times. It can also help you to recover from trauma faster and with fewer long-term effects.

How can I build emotional wellness?

Learning about and using healthy coping skills to overcome daily challenges in your life is an important step to maintaining good mental health. It’s these same skills that will help you cope better during emergencies.

Here are some basic steps you can follow for emotional wellness:

• Take care of yourself—make time for activities like yoga, deep breathing exercises, meditation, and walking to help lower stress.
• Always look for and make manageable changes in your life that will help you cope better. Even small lifestyle changes can make a big difference.
• Decrease or stop unhealthy coping behaviors (e.g., smoking, drinking alcohol, eating too much, not eating enough).
• Develop a positive attitude toward life—share 1 positive thing that has happened every day with friends or family.
• Always make time for yourself (e.g., read a good book, listen to your favourite music) no matter how busy life gets. Taking time for yourself can give you the mental energy to better cope with busy schedules.

How can I build a strong support network?

• Ask for help when you need it. Accepting help from friends and family can help build a supportive community.
• Take part in celebrations and ceremonies to help build community. Include people who are important to you.
• Spend time with supportive family and friends. Spending time with people you like is good for your physical and emotional health.
• Get to know your neighbours. In an emergency or disaster, your neighbours are often the first to respond. Knowing who you can turn to in times of need is important. It’s also good to know who might need your help in an emergency.
• One way to get to know your neighbours and your neighbourhood is to volunteer or join your local community association.

How can I take better care of myself?

Taking good care of yourself physically can help you cope well emotionally.

• Eat well-balanced, healthy foods according to Canada’s Food Guide. Make sure to eat regular meals. Limit snacks with lots of sugar.
• Manage chronic illness. If you need help, talk to your doctor or healthcare provider.
• Get enough sleep. When you don’t get enough sleep, it may affect how you cope with everyday challenges. Sleeping enough is an important way to stay healthy physically and emotionally.
• Drink enough water. Avoid drinks with a lot of caffeine or sugar. Drinking 250 mL (1 cup) of water every 2 hours while awake can help keep you hydrated. Staying hydrated is important for your health and helps you think more clearly.
• Stay active. Exercise can help you cope better. Walking for 15 minutes can be calming. Walking makes the brain release chemicals to help you feel calm and help you deal with stress.

Taking care of practical details ahead of time can help lower stress during an emergency.

Be Prepared

When you have no control over a stressful situation, you still have control over how you understand and respond to it. Having a plan can help you stay calm and feel more in control. This can help you make better choices during a disaster or emergency.

Here is a checklist to help prepare your family:

• Make an emergency kit. Include food that won’t spoil and clean water to drink, enough for everyone in the family (even your pets). A good emergency kit can help you and your family survive for up to 72 hours.
• Have a list of emergency contact phone numbers ready. When you’re under stress, you might not remember phone numbers. Choose a friend or family member from out of the province to be your main contact in case you get separated from your family. Make sure everyone in your family knows who to contact and where to meet if you’re separated.
• Keep a copy of important papers and a contact list with your emergency kit. It’s a good idea to have a copy for you and each family member.
• In a crisis, it’s important to communicate. Make a plan to communicate any special needs (e.g., medical conditions or supplies) for you or family members. Write this information down and keep a copy with you. Share your plan with friends.

How do I start planning?

• Imagine that there’s an emergency (e.g., fire or flood in your home) and you need to leave your home quickly. What are the best escape routes from your home? Find at least 2 ways out of each room. Write them down—now you’ve started your emergency plan.
• Make sure everyone in your family understands the plan and what they need to do to be safe. Let your children and teens help with planning.

​​​​​​Every parent hopes that their child never has to go through a disaster or emergency. But, it’s likely that at some point your child will face some kind of distressing event. Helping your child or teen develop healthy emotional coping skills ahead of time can help them react and recover better after experiencing a disaster or emergency.

A distressing event is anything that makes a child or teen feel physically or emotionally overwhelmed.

A child or teen can feel insecure, scared, or confused after:

• being involved in a disaster or emergency
• hearing others talk about a traumatic event over and over again
• seeing a traumatic event on TV

It can be hard for a child to cope if they don’t understand what’s happened or why it’s affecting their routine. The more scared or helpless a child feels, the more likely they are to feel troubled.

As a parent or caregiver, you can lower the impact of a disaster or emergency by giving your child support and guidance that’s right for their age. Helping a child develop healthy and effective ways to cope with daily challenges will help a child control how they react if an emergency happens.

Building Blocks for COPING Emotionally

Communicate and Connect with Others

Help your child learn words to describe and talk about their feelings. Let them know that it’s okay and healthy to share worries with a trusted adult. Model and encourage positive communication skills for your teen. This can help them build healthy supportive groups of friends and family to safely share feelings with.

Optimism and a Positive Attitude Help

Plan regular family meals and have each person share at least 1 positive thing that happened that day. Teach your child how to look for the positives in a situation, especially times when the only positive is a chance to learn from the experience. Let your child have successes (e.g., doing age-appropriate tasks around the house and give praise for their effort).

Participate in Family and Community Events to Build Support Networks

Get your child to help you make an emergency kit for your house. Let your child help make a family emergency plan. Find events that you can do or volunteer at as a family.

Identify Stress

Ask your child what makes them feel stressed. Teach your child to know what they can and can’t change or control. Help your child learn skills to problem solve and set realistic goals. Create easy chances for your child to practice problem-solving and setting goals every day. Teach your child how to break down big problems into small, more manageable steps to help cope with stressful times. Remember, your child is watching how you cope and problem-solve, so practice what you teach.

Nurture and Support your Child or Teen’s Healthy Emotional Development

Let children express themselves. Listen to your child’s feelings without judging. Have age-appropriate talks with your child. Let your child know that you care and want to understand how they react to stress. It’s very important during an emergency to:

• reassure your child that they’re safe
• let your child know that you’ll protect them from danger
• continue to help your child when they’re scared

Go for Help

Talk to your child about who they should ask for help in times of stress. Teach your child how to:

• call for help
• memorize emergency phone numbers

Healthy Habits for Your Child

• Toddlers and preschool children need 12 to 14 hours of sleep per night.
• Children between 6 and 12 years old need 10 to 12 hours of sleep per night.
• Make sure your child has time to play and be physically active.
• Make sure your child eats a healthy, well-balanced diet according to Canada’s Food Guide. Limit high-sugar foods or drinks.

Healthy Habits for Your Teen

• Teens need 9 to 12 hours of sleep per night.
• Model and encourage your teen to be physically active
• Model and encourage your teen to have many positive relationships.
• Model and encourage your teen to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet according to Canada’s Food Guide. Limit caffeine and high-fat and high-sugar foods.

For Children and Teens

• Limit repeated or constant exposure to distressing pictures, TV, or radio reports.
• If your child watches or listens to reports about disasters or emergencies, watch with them. Afterwards, talk to your child about what they saw to help make sense of the events.
• Children need age-appropriate guidance, perspective, and reassurance during distressing events.

​​​​Why is it important to be prepared emotionally for disasters or emergencies?

Experiencing a natural disaster (e.g., flood, fire, tornado) or an emergency (e.g., health epidemic or man-made disaster) can be stressful. It can also affect how you feel, think, and act because these events often occur with little or no warning and can have a huge impact on your personal safety and well-being. These types of events can bring about a lot of change in your life and it can be hard to adjust to new places, routines, or situations.

Connecting with others, taking care of yourself, and preparing early are just 3 ways to build emotional wellness. Your ability to cope with, respond to, and recover from a disaster or emergency will depend upon the planning and preparation you do today.

It’s Important You Have a PLAN

Prepare

• Be prepared for emergencies. Having emergency supplies ready can help decrease some of your fears and stress. This will help you to better cope during and after a disaster or emergency.
• During a disaster or emergency, you may not have access to your home, family, friends, community, medical facilities, pharmacy, and grocery stores.
• Your electricity, water, and gas may be turned off or you may be asked to leave your home and go to a shelter. If this should happen, it’s important to be ready. Have enough food and water on hand to last for 3 days, plus other basic supplies like a flashlight. To find out what emergency supplies you should have on hand go to getprepared.gc.ca.

Have Emergency Supplies on Hand and Have a ‘Go-Bag’ Ready.

• at least a 3-day supply of all the medicine you take
• your personal aides (e.g., glasses, cane, dentures, hearing aids, extra hearing aid batteries)
• a list of important contacts (e.g., family members, friends, and doctors)
• a waterproof bag that seals to hold important documents (e.g., healthcare card, insurance, financial documents, passport)
• your wallet, identification, and enough money to buy items you may need
• extra clothing—make sure it’s comfortable
• personal hygiene aids (e.g., toothbrush, comb)

Learn

• Learn about what you should do when an event happens. Knowing what steps or skills you can use during an emergency to protect your safety can help you feel more confident and in control.
• If you live in supportive housing, ask your building’s staff to explain the emergency procedures and plans that are in place for residents during an event. Request presentations and opportunities to practice your building’s emergency procedures to help you become familiar with the plan. Practicing these plans can also help you to identify what you need to do or practice to be personally prepared for disasters or emergencies.
• If you’re living independently, contact your community association or your local municipal government to find out what emergency plans and procedures are in place for your community. You’ll also need to develop your own personal emergency plan and make an effort to practice this plan regularly.
• Be aware of your own reactions to stressful situations. To help you cope better, learn about and use healthy coping skills. Practicing these skills can help you overcome daily challenges in your life and is a good way to maintain your mental health.
• Although you can draw on your past life experiences to help you cope, it’s never too late to take steps to maintain and improve your emotional wellness. Learning to be emotionally prepared for disasters and emergencies can help you recover from trauma faster and reduce the harmful impacts of stress on your health and well-being.

Access

• There are a lot of programs and sources of information available. It’s important to actively look for and use these resources in your community—especially when you have questions or need assistance. Learn to recognize and understand community warning systems. Know how local authorities will warn you about a pending or current disaster or emergency.
• Connect with local emergency support groups in your community. Introduce yourself, let them know your needs and ask them how they can assist you during a disaster or emergency. If available, place your name on advance emergency registration systems in your community.

Network

When a disaster or emergency occurs, your neighbours will most likely be the first people to come to your aid. It is important to know your neighbours and be familiar with supports in your building and neighbourhood. Develop connections with people around you and make time to chat with people in the hall or your neighbours on the street. Form a ‘buddy system’ where you exchange phone numbers with someone who lives close to you. Let your neighbours know if you have any special needs or considerations and get to know theirs. Call or stop by to check-in on each other regularly to see that everything is okay. This way you can watch out for each other. Additionally, you may want to give someone you trust a key to your home to be used only in the case of emergencies. However, do this only if you feel comfortable with this idea.

Being actively involved with the people in your community is good for your emotional well-being and health—whether it’s your neighbourhood or the building you live in. Having regular contact with people in your community is also a good way to build a healthy support network.

Communication is important during a disaster or emergency. Create an emergency communication plan with the people in your support network.

• Identify the first person you will call to let your family and friends know where you are.
• Identify a backup person if the first person is not available.
• Inform these people about your communication plan:
• Let these people know that during an emergency you’ll call one of them first and that they’re your prime contacts. These people will let others know how you’re doing and where you’re staying.
• If you’re not able to call your prime contacts yourself during an emergency, ask someone to make this call for you.
• Share your communication plan with your family and close friends.

If you own a cell phone, know how to make, and receive a call. It’s also a good idea to know how to text.

Having a disaster or emergency communication plan in place before an event occurs is very important and even more important if you have special needs, take medicine, or have challenges communicating.

During an emergency you might not be able to make a call, but you may be able to text other people who have cell phones. This is a very simple and easy way to stay in contact with family and friends. If you don’t own a cell phone, find out which of your neighbours has one. Talk to this person about your emergency communication plan. Ask this person if he or she would be comfortable if you were to give his or her phone number to 2 people (let this person know who) in your support network to use only in case of emergencies. Let your family and friends know that your neighbour or friend’s cell phone number is for emergency situations only.

Join your local community association or committees in your building or complex. Current disaster literature indicates that positive social supports are important to recovery after a disaster or emergency. People who have a strong social support network in their lives will recover more easily from these experiences and are better prepared to face future challenges as they’re recovering from a disaster or emergency.