How To Cope With Stress & Crisis As A Family

A crisis is a time of decision, the outcome of which may be positive or negative. Some families fall apart when faced with a crisis like illness, death, or financial setbacks.

All families will experience the challenge of a crisis at certain times. Strong families, however, have the ability to pull together and draw on each other’s strengths when they are faced with the stress of a crisis. They pool their resources, work together, get help from outside support systems, keep communication open in the face of the strong emotions of a crisis, and draw on their shared spiritual beliefs.

When a family is strong, it is able to maintain the flexibility necessary to weather the crisis, and family members expect a positive resolution in the end.

Try these things:

• During relaxed family discussions at dinner, pose hypothetical questions involving crises (like what you would do in case of an earthquake or a hurricane, or if a parent became ill, or if there were a national emergency such as war). Use discretion in talking about these topics with young children, who may be frightened by these discussions – but they can learn that if their parents can handle these situations, so can they.

• Examine the level of stress experienced by family members and help them use stress reduction techniques for managing it (like exercise, cultivating a hobby, talking about stressors).

A crisis can put a strain on even the strongest individual. But by pooling your resources as a supportive family, each individual can find the strength to cope with the stress of a crisis, while also making the family unit stronger.