5 Online Resources for Parents of Children with PTSD

Online Resources for PTSD

KidsHealth By Nemours
National Child Traumatic Stress Network
Child Mind Institute
Anxiety and Depression Association of America
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

When a person thinks of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), they are likely to think of a veteran of the armed forces, a first responder or an adult victim of a car accident, domestic violence or terrorist attack. However, children can also have PTSD. Parents of children with PTSD can check out these five useful resources on treatment options, how to help the child at home, how to explain the condition to others and how treatment and symptoms might change as a child goes through their teenage years and enters young adulthood.

KidsHealth By Nemours

The KidsHealth website by Nemours offers a wide range of information about health conditions that affect children of all ages. Their section about PTSD in children includes pages for adults as well as pages for children to read. The resource section for adults includes an introduction, list of causes and information about symptoms. The pages include tips on how parents can help children. There is also a section for educators, and those resources could also be useful to parents.

National Child Traumatic Stress Network

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network offers information for parents, adoptive families, foster parents, guardians, grandparents and other caregivers of children with PTSD. Their website breaks down the information by the age of the child, and it ranges from toddler to young adult. There are also resources for different types of trauma. For example, their website breaks out topics such as community violence, natural disasters and physical abuse. The fact sheets and information are available in multiple languages.

Child Mind Institute

The Child Mind Institute is a website dedicated to the mental health and well-being of children. On their site, parents and families can access information about what PTSD is, how it can manifest in a child, the risk factors for PTSD, how PTSD is diagnosed in a child and the treatment options for the condition. The site also has a section for educators. In the PTSD section, there are links to related mental health conditions, including acute stress and how to break bad news to a child who already has PTSD.

Anxiety and Depression Association of America

The Anxiety and Depression Association of America website offers a full set of resources for parents of children with PTSD. A unique feature of this site is that it explains how PTSD may mask other mental health conditions that a child may develop as a result of what caused their PTSD. For example, a child with PTSD may also become clinically depressed, or they may develop an anger disorder. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America website also has a section on how PTSD is diagnosed in children under the age of six.

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry is a more academic online resource. It offers links to research and medical developments for treating children with PTSD. Parents can also use their online directory to find providers who specialize in caring for children with PTSD. It also includes how PTSD is diagnosed and treated. Other conditions can be co-morbid with PTSD, and there are links to those pages.

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Parents, families and caregivers of children wit PTSD may also want to ask their counseling or mental health professional for additional online resources to local places that offer services to these youngsters. It is also a good idea for educators to be familiar with these resources, because children spend six to eight hours per day in the school environment. Each of these five online resources for caregivers, guardians, families and parents of children with PTSD can be helpful, especially outside of a counselor’s typical business hours.