THUNDER BAY - Everyone deals with tragic events in different ways, but what remains the same for all people, particularly youth, is the need to access services to help them through what can be a very difficult time.
A new protocol has been developed involving numerous community organizations to create a coordinated response to tragic events impacting youth.
“We recognize as a community that we need to have a united response and be equally involved in insuring the safety and risk of our families remain contained and our response is coordinated,” said Tina Bobinski, assistant director of mental health with Dilco Anishinabek Family Care.
On Wednesday, 15 community organizations signed the Youth Tragic Events Memorandum of Agreement, including mental health agencies, school boards, health care providers, and Indigenous organizations.
“It’s our community partners getting together to respond to tragic events that involve youth, really with the goal of supporting youth and minimizing the risk associated with experiencing traumatic event and supporting wellbeing and the wellness of families when a tragic event such as suicide occurs,” Bobinski said.
Initially, the fan-out protocol was to address suicide, but Bobinski said there are many other tragic events that can impact the life of a student.
“Since our community has experienced many tragic events in the last decade, we wanted to include tragic events in that overall scheme of practice because we recognize that both suicide and general tragic events do have similar impacts in terms of trauma on children and families,” she said.
Mirella Fata, mental health lead with the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, welcomed the new agreement, saying all organizations will benefit greatly from the fan-out protocol.
“In the aftermath of a tragic event when students are grieving or struggling, there is an increased demand to see counsellors and the fan-out protocol, allows us when our school community is struggling, to bring in additional mental health counsellors from community agencies to be there in the first few hours or days after a tragedy,” she said.
The fan-out protocol will allow organizations and school boards to identify high-risk students, increase supports to schools and mental health workers, and reduce the effects of a tragic event in the school or community.
“It goes through our process in terms of what will actually do when a tragic event or suicide or suicide attempt occurs in our community and who is responsible for what and what resources each organizations will kick in,” Bobinski said.
Fata said when a tragic event occurs, the impact it has on the school community can vary, but it can result in fewer resources available to those who need support.
“If it is the loss of a peer or someone they know who is connected to the school, for a lot of kids dealing with the issue of death is new, and sometimes if it is someone they are connected to, it hits harder,” she said.
“These are scenarios where we don’t have a lot of control over,” Fata added. “We can’t predict them and they tend to overwhelm us because they are sudden. When they involve youth, they tend to have a broader impact. I wouldn’t say there is an increase, but it is something school boards always need to be prepared for.”
