More than one in eight children and teenagers exposed to the bushfires this summer are at risk of developing mental health problems as a result.
The risk extends to those young people who have experienced smoke pollution or seen media reports of death and destruction.
Children can be traumatised by direct experience of the bushfires but also smoke pollution ane media coverage.Credit:James Brickwood
Vanessa Cobham, a research and clinical psychologist with expertise in disaster response, said the typical disaster in Australia saw 12 per cent of children and teenagers develop a clinically significant mental health problem.
"With this particular disaster or series of disasters, I would actually expect the percentage to be higher," Dr Cobham said.
"That’s partly because there has been significant loss of life but also the almost unbelievable extent of this disaster and the huge number of animals that have died."
Dr Cobham led the child and adolescent mental health response for the Christchurch massacre and various bushfires, earthquakes, floods and cyclones in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States.
Dr Cobham said the right time to intervene was between three and six months after the disaster.
If you sought help too early, it was not only a waste of time and money but you also risked reinforcing trauma or causing stress about the speed of their recovery.
"Within the first month, we would expect that everybody who's been impacted by this kind of event is going to be distressed – that’s normal, we don't want to pathologise that," Dr Cobham said. "Most people are going to make a good natural recovery, with the support of their family and community."
While everyone had "their own timetable for recovery", generally children and teenagers who were still disturbed more than six months after the event would not get better with the passage of time and would require more intensive psychological intervention.
Dr Cobham said it was harder to shift emotions and thoughts after six months, so it was better to be proactive around the three-month mark.
She said children and adolescents relied on adults to organise psychological help and were less likely to realise they needed it.
Parents should look out for increased clinginess and difficulty separating, sleep disturbances, nightmares and difficulty falling asleep, and increased anxiety or irritability.
The Australian Red Cross has activated the Disaster Response Network, deploying psychologists with the Australian Psychological Society throughout bushfire-affected areas, on an as-needed basis.
APS president Ros Knight said not everyone suffers trauma because of disasters but sometimes the impact can "lay dormant and appear months or years later".
The APS advises parents to comfort and reassure children, find out what they know in case they have mistaken ideas or facts, listen to their concerns, shield them from the media, and be aware of how they talk to other adults in front of children.
Dr Cobham also expected the bushfires to lead to increased anxiety about climate change and parents needed to be ready for these conversations.
"[That means] being truthful, giving your child your full attention and listening carefully to what they actually are saying, but not giving them more information than they’ve actually asked for because that can be sometimes be overwhelming," Dr Cobham said.
"It can be helpful for kids to break it down and think about practical, concrete things you can do as a family."
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