The events in Ukraine that have unfolded have been extremely hard to hear about. People have shared feelings about the shock they’ve experienced and the fear they have over what the future holds. It is completely natural to feel distressed by all that is happening, and at times like these, it is understandable that we feel anxious about things.
What can you do to manage the anxiety?
- Talk to others – It can be helpful to connect and share how you feel with others so you know you are not alone in your experiences. Try to talk about other subject matters as well, so that you are not spending too much time talking about a topic that is triggering your worry.
- Try to avoid ‘doomscrolling’ – This involves spending excessive amounts of time scrolling through content that is saddening or negative in some way. This is especially relevant to social media or the 24/7 news, where the stream of updates is constant. If you do want to check the news, try to avoid doing so at the end of the day before going to bed.
- Try not to catastrophise – We tend to try and fill gaps in our knowledge with new information, but we need to be careful to not catastrophise or reinforce our sense of doom through actions such as replaying worrying or upsetting videos.
- Use reputable sources for information – With so many sources of information now available online this is important and helps to avoid wild speculation.
- Remove yourself from triggers – If checking your phone for news updates is triggering waves of anxiety try to minimise it or avoid it. Consider setting limits for how often and how long you spend reading updates. Be mindful of how you are feeling, and remember you always have the option to put your phone down.
- Make time for activities and relaxation – Remember that we can put into practice the usual ways to manage stress and anxiety, such as getting outside in nature, playing sport, exercising, practicing mindfulness, taking part in hobbies, connecting with others, and making time for rest and relaxation.
Having conversations with your children
It’s important to have conversations with your children instead of ignoring it since they can often pick up on the anxiety around them. It’s also likely these days they will come across the topic whether on social media, through news information or via friends.
Encourage them to share their feelings and give them reassurance. You may also consider giving them some context on what is happening – such as showing them the different countries in Europe and the location of Ukraine. This may help reassure them that it is a relatively far away country, and that the fighting is highly unlikely to affect them directly.
Further advice on how best to respond to your children is available via the BBC Bitesize website here.
How you can offer support in the crisis
Many of us may be experiencing feelings of hopelessness, but it is worth remembering that there are some things we can do to help, such as supporting charities and making a donation:
- British Red Cross – Have launched a campaign to help the Ukrainian Red Cross provide food, medicine, clothing and shelter.
- UNHCR refugee agency – Helping to scale-up supplies and get emergency aid to families caught in the crisis.
- Unicef – Helping to scale-up live-saving support for children and their families.
- Save the Children – Distributing essential supplies, offering mental health and psychosocial support and more.
- The Disasters Emergency Committee – Donations are going to member charities and their local partners responding in Ukraine and in neighbouring countries.
Further support
Samaritans – If you want to speak to someone about how you are feeling, you can contact Samaritans 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by calling 116 123 (free from any phone) or email jo@samaritans.org You can also call the Samaritans Welsh Language Line on 0808 164 0123 (7pm–11pm every day).
Shout – If you are struggling to cope and need to talk you can reach out to Shout volunteers by texting the word ‘SHOUT‘ to 85258 to start a conversation using it’s free, confidential, anonymous text support service – available to anyone in the UK.
Five steps to wellbeing – The NHS have advice and ideas you can implement to look after your wellbeing.
Mind – The mental health charity Mind include information and advice on looking after your mental health.
Workplace Wellbeing – There are also plenty of materials on this website such as videos, podcasts and articles to support mental and physical wellbeing.
This information was published March 2022.
