As B.C.’s flooding makes way for fires, many in the Cariboo are feeling their stress levels rise.
Last year’s unprecedented wildfires are still taking a toll, and in ways perhaps not many could have predicted.
It’s an issue that has gained more attention this week, as the B.C. division of the Canadian Mental Health Association announced its new telehealth program, called Talk in Tough Times, on Monday. The helpline aims to aid adults and teens who are suffering from mild or moderate depression, stress or anxiety as a result of the 2017 fires.
“As we approach the spring and summer, past events may trigger some people. … We want those people to know that talking makes a difference, recovery is possible, and help is available,” says the association’s CEO, Bev Gutray.
Community wellness manager for Quesnel Doris Hocevar has been in her role with the United Way since March of this year, and says she recently had her mandated hours increased from 20 hours a week to 30 due to the scope of the work she’s doing and the demand for help.
“It’s a massive undertaking. When we think about emotional wellbeing, in my view, it touches every single domain. If we don’t have a sense of wellbeing and emotional resilience, our work suffers. Our ability to perform, to feel productive, to feel motivated, it’s not there,” she explains.
READ MORE: Mental health call-line set up for people affected by 2017 wildfire season
Helping those who need it
Hocevar works from an office on Reid Street, but says she is often also out in the community, meeting with different groups, including all the local First Nation communities, Quesnel locals and rural communities to the west.
Her role is to offer support to those affected by wildfire, connecting them with existing emotional wellbeing or mental health resources, and also to document the gaps that exist in the community’s resources.
She says she’s come across three main groups of people who’ve been most affected by the 2017 fires, in terms of their emotional health: those whose property was directly affected by fire; those who work in the timber industry; and front-line workers including firefighters, health care staff, staff at local band offices and non-profit agency workers.
She says the direct economic impacts for a forestry city have been significant, and workers in that industry are feeling a strain.
“Look at the vast toll on the timber out west – over 20,000 hectares of timber impacted,” she says.
“I’m hearing directly about the economic impacts. Everyone is having to go farther north. That means more time away from family. … Last summer’s wildfires – that ripped the rug out from so many people and from forest-based industry here.”
Cariboo North MLA Coralee Oakes says she’s seen firsthand how the economic impacts of the wildfires are affecting peoples’ psychological wellbeing.
“I’ve talked to people that are burnt out and are trying to make mortgage payments. There’s also the emotional side of it. A lot of people were evacuated for 77 days. There’s an emotional toll to that. Some people have gotten behind on payments,” she says.
Oakes describes how ranchers and other affected individuals from the region have broken down in her office.
“They are just desperate. They need help. But we are getting there. We haven’t been through this before, and we are open to learning how we need to improve and where the gaps are.”
With families coming under financial strain, Oakes says more and more are utilizing food programs like the Salvation Army Food Bank. This is putting pressure on local programs.
“Our food bank through the Salvation Army is being challenged. I’m fighting for increased resources to go to some of these organizations. I think we may be in for a difficult time and I want to make sure those agencies have the resources they need,” says Oakes.
Financial trouble and lack of work can have additional effects on families. Hocevar says she has met with stakeholder groups in the community and in B.C. that have stated the incidence of domestic violence has been on the rise, both during and after the fires.
“When people are under a lot of duress and stress, there’s an increase in violence in the home and there can be an increase of substance abuse if there’s job loss,” she says.
Stark landscapes
It’s not just financial worries that are taking a toll.
Hocevar says indirectly, the impact of travelling through the fire-ravaged landscape is also having a significant effect on peoples’ psychological wellbeing.
“The people that have to drive those roads every single day, they are exposed to this really stark landscape. [It] is unlike anything any of us can imagine. … So I think for the people who live there, who look at this every day, there has to be a level of emotional disconnect in order to be able to get by everyday.
“I have met with people who say they are probably experiencing some level of depression or post traumatic stress,” she comments.
Hocevar’s role is not a clinical one. She doesn’t offer counselling services, rather connecting individuals with resources they might need, and offering a much-needed empathetic ear to those who are suffering.
“I am trying to find openings to provide people with information so that they can be more informed about the symptoms they may be experiencing such as restlessness, sleeplessness. There’s also the anticipation and anxiety as summer is getting closer. There’s a sense of hyper-vigilance.”
Looking ahead
Part of the community wellness manager’s mandate is figuring out what could be needed in the future, in case of other crisis situations.
“The piece I think that’s missing is something I’ve been hearing from people – it was that ability to decompress and debrief. It wasn’t there. Everyone was on autopilot [during the fires], just go, go, go until you can’t go anymore,” says Hocevar.
It’s one of the pieces Hocevar will be taking back to her superiors. The United Way is working with the Red Cross and the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions, and all of the findings from the community wellness managers in Quesnel, Williams Lake, 100 Mile House and Ashcroft will be compiled for the Ministry.
Hocevar encourages anyone affected by wildfire or flood to give her a call and make time to tell her their story.
“I’m here offering support and information, and validating what [people have] gone through.
“Coming to an office and getting counselling is not the right fit for everyone. Whatever is identified as the need, that’s what we will go with. At this time we are just starting to find out what those things are,” says Hocevar.
“The wildfires showed us how we can support each other in the most meaningful ways. It showed there is resilience even though it was extremely difficult. Sometimes we can forget that as we are going through difficulty, that’s how we generate a sense of resiliency. I don’t want to minimize that. It’s so challenging and painful, and emotionally draining. And different for everybody, because everybody has a different skill set.”
Doris Hocevar can be reached at 250-983-8638 or doris@unitedwaytnc.ca. The Talk in Tough Times helpline is available at 1-877-427-4884, and via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TalkInToughTimes.
