Stress Discovery Channel: Fight, Flight, Freeze or Fawn?

We suggest playing this activity after the introductory game with the poster: Animal Concept. This way the players will be familiar with the poster.

The fight, flight, freeze or fawn responses are ways our bodies react to stress or danger:

• Fight: You respond to danger by standing up and confronting it. You might feel angry or aggressive and ready to defend yourself.
• Flight: You respond to danger by running away or trying to escape. You feel like you need to get away from the threat as quickly as possible.
• Freeze: You respond to danger by becoming still and silent. You might feel paralyzed and unable to move or speak, hoping the threat will go away if you don’t draw attention to yourself.
• Fawn: You respond to danger by trying to please or appease the threat. You might try to be extra nice or helpful to avoid conflict and make the danger go away by making the threat happy.

The centre of the poster depicts different animals with different stress reactions. The animals depicted and their stress responses are:

• Fight (chipmunk, eagle, lions, kangaroos, chimpanzee, chickens)
• Flight (turtle, hedgehog, sloth, cheetah)
• Freeze (bear, ducks, gorilla, rhino, flamingo)
• Fawn (dog, camels, peacocks, deer, otters, donkey)
• Other (bison, wolf, snake, polar bear, pigeon, shark, meerkat, giraffe, bunny, toucans, owl, cat, black panther, koala, llama, panda, red panda, lemur, ostrich, penguin, horse, argali, elephant, fox, skunk, cuttlefish)
• No stress reaction (bat, red crab, ladybug, mouse, killer whale, seal, eagle ray, chameleon, red frog, purple frog, purple hermit crab, parrot, scarlet ibis, crocodile, sea star)

This game is part of the Trauma-Informed Youth Work toolkit, which is designed to create a safe, supportive environment for all participants by acknowledging the impact of trauma on young people and fostering trust and empowerment. By incorporating activities that use indirect methods to explore emotions and behaviours, the toolkit makes sensitive topics more accessible and less intimidating, especially for younger audiences. The teamwork aspects of these activities foster collaboration and support, aligning with trauma-informed principles. This approach promotes healing, resilience, and positive development in every youth engaged, while emphasizing emotional awareness and understanding.

To start a discussion on understanding and dealing with different ways of responding to challenging situations, have the players think about what kind of animal they would like to turn into in different situations. The scenarios should be based on the children's reality. Some examples:

• You are home alone for a while.
• You are not prepared for tomorrow's test or lesson.
• You have to go to the doctor.
• They scold you about something you did.
• They accuse you of something you didn't do.
• Someone steals your idea.
• You get left out of the game.
• Someone is going to hurt your best friend.

• Learn about (categories of) stress reactions (fight, flight, freeze or fawn).
• Enhance understanding of signs and symptoms of trauma through animal metaphors.