By Colton Swiderski

Northern health region offering support as community grapples with suicide

Oct 15, 2016 | 12:11 PM

The cause is still unknown, but health officials in northern Saskatchewan want communities to know there’s help for those struggling with suicide.

Officials from the Mamawetan Churchill River Health Region (MCRHR) spent much of Friday with community leaders and mental health workers from the area, including Lac La Ronge and Stanley Mission, to discuss how to solve an emerging crisis among teens.

Health region CEO Andrew McLetchie said they’ve enacted several new protocols following the suicides of three young girls, two from Stanley Mission and one from La Ronge.

“That prompted us to connect with the Lac La Ronge Indian Band and work with them to try and identify what can be done and how we can work together to meet the needs of the communities,” he said.

Mental health and addictions workers are now more connected with school divisions to converse with leadership teams and offer counselling, while the health region works to determine what those struggling with suicide need and how it can be provided.

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McLetchie said the health region realized they wouldn’t be able to handle the issue alone, so they reached out to the Prince Albert Grand Council, Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority, the Ministry of Health and First Nations groups to coordinate their suicide response.

Not sure of what caused the three suicides, McLetchie said the first unfortunate death likely sparked the other two, which is why the health region is worked with communities to address the after-shocks of suicide.

“There are good things out there and we want youth to experience life, to have that loss of life is a huge loss to our communities. There is support out there, there are things that can be done to help them and we want them to reach out and get that help and support.”

More than 24 mental health works are currently in La Ronge and Stanley Mission to help the community heal. Three therapists have been sent to Stanley Mission to assist on weekends, the Lac La Ronge Indian Band has six to eight workers on staff and the P.A. Parkland Health Region sent an additional four therapists to help from Sunday to Wednesday.

McLetchie said the health region is trying to work with Health Canada to install long-term therapists.

According to David Watts, MCRHR executive director for clinical health services, access points have been set up to provide easy access for those in need of a therapist.

“If I could pass any message on, it would be to the parents,” Watts said. “Talk to your children, let them know how special they are, let them know how much you love them. They can be quite awkward…but go there, try it and you’ll be surprised how much they want to talk.”

“It touches the heart and it’s touching everyone. It’s overwhelming,” Cumberland MLA Doyle Vermette said. “Whatever we need to do, we’ll be there to ask the tough questions and do what we need to do.”

In an earlier statement, Lac La Ronge Indian Band chief Tammy Cook-Searson said more than 20 youth in the area are considered at risk and there were nine additional suicide attempts over the week.

Colton Swiderski is meadowlakeNOW’s municipal affairs, crime and court, health and education reporter. He can be reached at cswiderski@jpbg.ca or tweet him @coltonswiderski.