Numerous organizations are still responding to the April 6 Humboldt Broncos bus crash and the way forward will continue into the weeks and months ahead.
The City of Humboldt, as well as the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), Partners Family Services, and both the Horizon and Greater Saskatoon Catholic School Divisions, all came together with the community to discuss how far the community has come since April 6 and where to go from here.
Part of this discussion included members of Partners and the health authority speaking about the services that have been offered since the crash and how those services have been utilized.
The response saw a large contingent of counselors coming into the Humboldt area to offer assistance to those who were impacted by the crash, including an increase in youth counselors going into Humboldt and area schools to work with students.
Since the accident, around 50 clinicians have been out in Humboldt at some time to offer their services, says Tracy Muggli, director of Mental Health and Addictions with the SHA.
Three months later, everyone is in a different place, says Muggli, and supports are still needed and available, especially with important events coming up like graduation at Humboldt Collegiate Institute.
“Part of the focus is trying to support the high school to get through a celebration, which is really meaningful for so many of them but always in their minds is their friends that aren’t with them.”
Many factors play into how people have been grieving, including the national and international attention that Humboldt has received.
City Manager Joe Day says that there are still offers of support, gifts, and events from peopleoutside of Humboldt.
People are doing this as part of their own grieving, he says.
“We have to recognize that there will be continued offers of events, banners, cards of condolences and things like that.”
While it can offer support for some, for others that can delay grieving because some people might not be comfortable going through the stages of grief in such a public forum, says Michelle Buglas, also with Mental Health and Addictions.
That is something that people can work through with mental health support.
When offers do come in, they go through a vetting process to ensure that these events and offers do not do more harm than good, says Day.
While everyone is at different stages, people might feel that they should be “over it” by now or feeling better but that is not always the case.
For others, it might be a feeling of thinking they do not deserve to grieve because others have it worse off than them. Buglas says these are all things they are helping people work through.
The courage and leadership from the organizations in the city has also been quite outstanding, says Muggli.
Supports are still available for those who need assistance. Anyone can call the Mental Health and Addictions intake line at (306) 682-5333, which is free with a health card.
“As long as that’s needed, we’ll be here.”
