Resources for working with children

We have included here:

a report from India put together by Maya Sen about exploring ways of responding to violence against vulnerable children during lockdown
a video about ‘Worry Journaling’ from family therapist Peter Fraenkel in New York City
and a project initiated with/by Brazilian children in collaboration with Lúcia Helena Abdalla

Connected through quarantine: Working with vulnerable young people during COVID-19 pandemic in India

Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, lockdown was imposed in India on March 25th 2020. This created unique challenges for people supporting vulnerable young people. This document compiled by Maya Sen highlights some of the ways in which people were able to respond to these challenges. To read the report, click here.

A message to kids about Worry Journaling
from Peter Fraenkel, New York City

This video from Peter Fraenkel is a message to kids with how to create a ‘Worry Journal’. Thanks Peter.

For more information about this or other ways of dealing with worries, feel free to email Peter

A quarantine of possibilities from Brazil

This image is from 8 year old Crystal. It’s called ‘the planet saying to carona to go away’.

It’s been created within a project initiated by Lúcia Helena Abdalla and the children and young people of Brazil. The project was sparked from a conversation with 11 year old Caio. The idea is to highlight the resources and abilities that people are using during this tough period and share these experiences. Here is how Lucia describes it:

Here in Rio, trying to respond the arrival of Corona in our lives, we started last Friday a campaign with children, teenagers, youngsters and parents/adults, that involves quick research by them.

The idea is to highlight the resources and abilities that people are using during this tough period and share these experiences. We believe that sharing these precious experiences, in own language, can facilitate the communication inside each community. We would like to create a wave of creative ideas to deal better with this difficult moment and also to promote the sense that if we act collectively, we can became stronger, giving more support among us. 🤗✨

The questions were made up last Wednesday, during a conversation by Skype with my client, Caio (eleven years old), that was temporarily without contact with his parents due to Coronavírus. His parents were with the suspicion of to be contaminated.

At the end of our conversation about what he has been doing to deal with that situation we had the idea to check what his friends and other people were doing during this quarantine, in the intention of getting more tips.

He also recorded a podcast with a home made recipe of alcohol gel. Saying that this is not time of making “Slime” but of making alcohol gel. 😊

Here’s how Caio describes it:

Here are the questions:

“Quarantine of Possibilities” & ”Complicating the Corona’s Life”

We observe that since Corona arrived in our planet, he has been disturbing uncountable lives and we are interested in getting to know about how have been your experience with him.

What has the arrival of Corona made with your life?
Did Corona have any influence on your habits, wishes, plans and dreams? Which ones?
Would you be able to describe Corona and his actions in one or more drawings?
If you could give him a name or a nickname what would it be?
Have you ever rendered Corona’s life complicated? When? How? What have you done?
What have you been doing to deal with the quarantine?
What and/or who have been helping you during this hard time?
What have you learned about yourself that makes you believe you’re able to cope with Corona?
What more have you learned about yourself since Corona’s arrival?
What tips would you give to other people that are dealing with this situation?

We are receiving many audio recordings from children and teenagers of different ages. Some recordings are very funny and deeply interesting.

Children have loved the questions! Anyway, maybe you can do similarly in your contexts :)

Beijos

Lucia