Shrinking It Down: Mental Health Made Simple · Gene Beresin, MD, MA and Khadijah Booth Watkins, MD, MPH

Addressing Your Family's Anxieties about California Wildfires

·25 min·1 clip

“All politics is local,” and climate change can be made concrete through actions at home, in community, and in government.

1. Shrinking It Down: Mental Health Made Simple focuses on how families can address anxieties about the California wildfires and the Palisades Fire. 2. Gene Boreson and Khadijah Booth-Watkins, both child and adolescent psychiatrists at the Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital, host the conversation because they give the mental health guidance. 3. The episode asks how parents can talk about wildfire coverage, climate change, and safety without increasing children’s fear. 4. The hosts say the fires had spread beyond the Palisades Fire, with multiple fires, over 23,000 acres burned, nearly 5,000 structures destroyed, and more than 200,000 evacuations as of January 21st. 5. Gene describes family and friends in Los Angeles who were affected by smoke and evacuation warnings, and Khadijah says her family in Los Angeles evacuated for safety. 6. They both say children and teens are seeing extensive wildfire coverage on TV, smartphones, and computers. 7. Khadijah recommends starting with open-ended questions about what children know, where they get information, and what they are specifically worried about. 8. She says parents should validate fears and watch for nonverbal signs such as disrupted sleep, disrupted eating, isolation, or a personality that seems different. 9. Gene says children want reassurance about safety, and he encourages adults to show that people are doing the best they can while remaining truthful. 10. The hosts suggest giving children agency through fundraisers, donations, notes, cards, drawings, or other contributions to affected communities. 11. Gene says the creative arts, including journaling, drawing, singing, and playlists, can help children and adults process thoughts and feelings. 12. Khadijah says joining groups in schools, places of worship, online, or local communities can help children feel connected and supported. 13. Gene separates advice by developmental stage, saying preschoolers need strong screening from disturbing media and conversations. 14. He says school-age children often think in black-and-white terms and work through fears through repetitive play, such as pretending to be firefighters or first responders. 15. He says adolescents may need a collaborative approach, including watching coverage together and pausing to discuss sources, feelings, and reactions. 16. Khadijah warns that too much information can create bigger images and stories, and she says children can become traumatized by repeated exposure. 17. Gene cites media studies and examples such as the Challenger disaster, the Oklahoma City bombings, the Gulf War, and the Twin Towers as cases where TV exposure was linked with PTSD in young people. 18. He argues that climate change can be discussed through local actions at home, in communities, in states, and beyond, rather than as an abstract idea. 19. The tone is practical and conversational, with both hosts trading examples, asking each other questions, and ending with personal strategies for managing stress. 20. Parents of children worried about fires, evacuation, media coverage, or climate change would get the most from this episode; listeners wanting a deep policy debate may skip it.

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