This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Talking To Your Kids About Newtown Tragedy

Strategies for talking and listening to your children about the news, and a confidential 24-hour hotline for anyone experiencing psychological distress.

In the wake of the , Chelmsford parents may find their children hearing about the tragedy or seeing it on the news and find themselves in a difficult discussion.

For parents seeking guidance on how to address the tragedy with their own children, if it comes up, PBS has an article with flexible suggestions for answering kids' questions about the news.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) also has a 24-hour hotline dedicated to providing disaster crisis counseling at 1-800-985-5990 or by texting "TalkWithUs" to 66746. The hotline is open to U.S. residents who are experiencing psychological distress as a result of a natural or man-made disasters, incidents of mass violence or any other disasters.

Find out what's happening in Chelmsfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?