What Happens When I Feel Unsafe – Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn is a free printable PDF poster designed to help children, kids, and young people understand what happens in their body and brain when they feel unsafe, scared, overwhelmed, or unsure. It explains the four common stress responses – fight, flight, freeze, and fawn – in clear, child friendly language that is easy to understand.
The poster explains that when the brain thinks something bad might happen, it quickly tells the body what to do to feel safe, even when there is no real danger. It describes fight responses such as shouting, hitting, or throwing things, flight responses such as running away or hiding, freeze responses such as going quiet or feeling stuck, and fawn responses such as saying sorry a lot or trying to keep everyone calm. Each response is clearly explained as a safety reaction, not bad behaviour.
This resource supports children and young people with anxiety, emotional overwhelm, big feelings, trauma responses, and difficulties with emotional regulation and behaviour. It is especially helpful for children who struggle to explain their reactions, as well as neurodivergent children, including those with ASD or ADHD, who benefit from clear visuals and simple explanations.
The poster helps adults reframe challenging behaviour as communication and supports conversations about safety, feelings, and asking for help. It is suitable for use at home, in schools, therapy rooms, wellbeing spaces, and care settings. It is useful for parents, carers, foster carers, adoptive parents, teachers, teaching assistants, social workers, therapists, counsellors, and other professionals supporting children, teenagers, and families.
