The holiday season: some look forward to it, while others dread it. For many, it can be a time of fun family gatherings, love and cheer. However, many people experience stress, fear and toxic situations when they are home for the holidays, often because of critical and malicious relatives.

A harmful family situation is not only emotionally exhausting, but can also take a toll on physical health. The stress of not having the ability to escape such a household can lead to something as subtle as hair loss to something as major as heart disease, according to The Huffington Post.

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), political conversations can cause rifts between family members. Among adults, 27 percent agree that today’s political climate has caused strain between themselves and their family members. However, the APA said that having healthy and mindful conversations can help reduce tensions between people. They also offer eight tips to help navigate these kinds of difficult conversations:

1. Find areas where you agree on topics.

2. Be open and kind, making sure to fully listen to the argument the other person is giving.

3. Keep calm when tension rises.

4. Set conversation goals, whether they are to simply hear each other out or change the other person’s mind.

5. Accept that you might not change the other person’s mind.

6. Understand that disagreeing with someone you care about is normal and okay.

7. Know when to end the conversation.

8. Be proactive and plan ahead to avoid certain topics and situations that are sure to cause tensions between family members.

Some other tips for surviving the holidays from Dr. Daphne Lurie, a clinical psychologist and director of the TSRI Counseling and Psychological Services Department in California, include reaching out to others for help, volunteering in the local community, staying healthy, avoiding perfectionism, setting personal limits, and seeking counseling.

Director of Student Wellness Dr. Bruce Lynch and staff counselor Jennifer Melchior from Counseling Services have some tips and techniques for navigating the holidays when in a detrimental situation. They recommend when returning to a difficult family environment:

1. Let friends and those family members who are supportive know ahead of time that you expect to be in stressful situations.

2. Plan relaxing/fun activities (in person and online) with trusted friends, and initiate spontaneous activities as needed, to get breaks from family interactions.

3. Anticipate those family situations and topics of conversation that are likely to be difficult and prepare to set boundaries to minimize or avoid those times.

4. Pay attention to your self-care (such as exercise, sleep, food and hobbies).

5. Talk with a counselor to develop a personalized plan ahead of time.

When trying to descale a stressful situation, Lynch and Melchior recommend:

1. Setting limits with family members regarding the topics you want to avoid or limit how long they are discussed (which could involve telling family directly, changing the subject or initiating taking breaks to get away and do an activity with a friend).

2. If the difficult behavior by the family member has been a pattern, prepare to do self-care actions while not expecting the family member’s behavior to suddenly get better; try to have realistic expectations for the visit, which can help keep your frustration from escalating.

If a person is tired of being in a toxic household, Lynch and Melchior suggest exploring alternate housing options. For example, staying with a friend, even overnight, “could provide opportunities for time-limited interactions with family members, and provide a safe place to go if the time-limited interactions become too stressful,” Lynch said.

For those who feel unsafe or threatened at home, they propose arranging a check-in time with someone trustworthy, and if there is no response, that person would call the police to check on the unresponsive person. In addition, Lynch and Melchior said to have a code word for the person to text if police intervention is needed. Finally, they recommend having a car or ride from a friend available in case a person needs to get away from a dangerous situation quickly.

Lynch and Melchior also suggest visiting Counseling Services when on campus to prepare entering a toxic environment or to help process anything that happened after break. These appointments are free and open to all students and can be made by calling 717-361-1405 or scheduling in-person in the BSC, room 216.

If someone needs help after hours, they can call Campus Security at 717-361-1111 to connect with a 24/7 on-call counselor.

As a final note, they highly encourage people to call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or reach out to the Crisis Text line by texting HOME to 741-741 if the danger includes suicidal or self-harming thoughts. Both of these resources are also available 24/7.