Mental health resources needed for communities grieving from ‘collective trauma’ following Saskatchewan attacks: expert

By Melissa Lopez-Martinez

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    TORONTO (CTV Network) — A First Nation community is grappling with the realities of the tragedy that left 10 people dead and 18 others injured, following a three-day manhunt for the suspects involved in the Saskatchewan stabbing attacks.

Friends and family members in the James Smith Cree Nation are mourning together, with candlelight vigils and healing ceremonies, to remember the lives lost during Sunday’s attack on the First Nation community and neighbouring village of Weldon.

Community support along with mental health resources are essential in aiding all Indigenous peoples grieving from the attack, Renee Linklater from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) says.

Linklater is the senior director of the Shkaabe Makwa, CAMH’s First Nations, Inuit and Metis wellness centre. She spoke to CTV’s Your Morning Thursday, about the different mental health resources available for all Indigenous communities seeking healing after the attack.

Within the James Smith Cree Nation, mental health support can be found through the community’s wellness team supported by the Prince Albert Council. Additionally, Linklater says helplines like Hope for Wellness and Talk Suicide Canada can offer support.

“Those types of resources really need to be offered at this time and when we think about the continued impacts of what people are going to be feeling over these next few hours and days, there is absolutely a collective traumatic response to this,” she told Your Morning.

Linklater says she hopes this will bring attention to the need for more resources in healthcare for Indigenous communities who have already had an intergenerational history of traumatic experiences.

“We really need to have a comprehensive strategy to develop a trauma recovery program, to be able to have culturally responsive support, but also that is blended with mainstream strategies,” she said.

Linklater said there is also a need for more government funding for First Nations students seeking post-secondary education. She says many students on wait lists to receive funding to enter college or university are interested in working in the mental health field and can help provides more resources to their community.

“We’re holding up people who want to be social workers, they want to be psychologists and therapists and nurses,” she said.

“I think that we really have to think about the extent and the different supports that actually need to be brought together to have a better system.”

On Tuesday, Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu told CTV News Channel the government will be covering expenses related to funeral costs and mental health services.

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Sonja Puzic