---
title: "CPR and the Recovery Position"
description: "What to do when someone is unresponsive: check breathing, call for help and a defibrillator, start chest compressions at the right depth and rate, and use the recovery position when they are breathing"
canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/personal-and-social-development/cpr-and-the-recovery-position-mt_ahwfva-o1j
source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/personal-and-social-development/cpr-and-the-recovery-position-mt_ahwfva-o1j.md
retrieved: 2026-09-12
---

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# CPR and the Recovery Position

What to do when someone is unresponsive: check breathing, call for help and a defibrillator, start chest compressions at the right depth and rate, and use the recovery position when they are breathing. Includes why bystanders hesitate and what removes the hesitation.

Subject: Personal & Social Development · Area: Responsible Decision-Making · Ages 14 to 16
Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/personal-and-social-development/cpr-and-the-recovery-position-mt_ahwfva-o1j

## Ready when they can

- Check responsiveness and breathing in the right order and say what each check rules out
- Give chest compressions on a manikin at roughly the right depth and rate for two minutes
- Put a breathing casualty into the recovery position and say what it protects against
- Name what a defibrillator does and why using one does not require training

## Lesson: First two minutes that save lives

Shake the shoulders and shout to check response. Then watch for normal breathing for no more than ten seconds. Gasping or snoring noises do not count as normal breathing. If you cannot wake them, treat it as an emergency.

No response plus no normal breathing means act at once. Call emergency services, send someone for a defibrillator, and push hard and fast in the centre of the chest. Go about 5 to 6 cm deep at 100 to 120 pushes a minute, and do not stop until help arrives.

**Example.** An unresponsive person who is breathing normally needs the recovery position instead. Lay them on their side with the airway open. Vomit then drains out instead of choking them.

**Tip.** The defibrillator reads the heart itself and only shocks rhythms a shock can help, so you cannot shock by mistake. It talks you through every step. For a small child use one hand at about a third of the chest depth.

**Recap.** Check response, check breathing, compress fast and deep or roll them sideways, and let the talking box guide the shock.

## Practice

8 questions on this page, each with its working shown.

## Needs first

- [First Aid You Can Actually Do](https://lightmysky.com/learn/personal-and-social-development/first-aid-you-can-actually-do-mt_dlq0FtJVVi)
- [Gas Exchange & Breathing](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/gas-exchange-and-breathing-mt_V9SQS9gLFw)