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Mental health supports in place for classmates, teachers of 3 children who died in Hwy. 17 crash

With the sudden loss of of three children in a car crash, students, teachers and support staff at Chelmsford Public School in Greater Sudbury continue to process their emotions and grieve — and now mental health supports are in place to help them.

"We give them the opportunity to express anything that they may be feeling," says Mary Jago

CBC News ·
(l to r) Britney Osagie, 6, Flourish Osagie, 10 and Destiny Osagie, 11, died in a car crash on New Year's Day. (Supplied)

With the sudden loss of of three children in a car crash last week, students, teachers and support staff at Chelmsford Public School in Sudbury continue to process their emotions and grieve — and now mental health supports are in place to help them. 

The Osagie siblings died in a New Year's Day car crash along Highway 17, near Lively.    

Brothers Destiny, 11, and Flourish, 10, died at the scene. Their sister Britney, 6, died later in hospital. They were all students at Chelmsford Public School. 

Mary Jago, mental health lead for the Rainbow District School Board, said social workers are on hand now to help guide those touched by the loss through the grieving process. 

"One of the first things that we want to do is advise the parents that there has been a tragedy," she said. "It's important that parents are actively involved in being able to share with their children in a way that makes most sense for them and about their belief systems around death and loss."

Mary Jago is the mental health lead for the Rainbow District School Board. During a time of emotional turmoil, she says, "students look to the adults to see how to react... we coach teachers on answering [tough questions] the best way they can, and that, look: it's OK when teachers have some tears because they're sad. It gives the kids permission to be able to say, 'oh, OK: you're modeling a healthy expression of emotion tells me that I can model that as well.'" (Jan Lakes/CBC)

Jago said news of the deaths was delivered on a class-by-class basis, and the information was tailored. 

"It's age and developmentally appropriate so they understand ... what's being shared with them," she said. "And then we get to create activities with the kids so that they can be able to express themselves in whatever way that makes sense for them."

Jago also said that supports are in place to make sure grieving teachers can still be there emotionally for their students.

"Most kids really want to talk to somebody that they already know," she explained.  "They don't want to go and talk to a stranger. They want to talk to somebody that they trust and feel save with and in the school environment, that's that's their teachers and their support staff."

Jago says in the weeks that follow, her team will be keeping a close eye on the Chelmsford students. She says once the shock wears off, other behaviours and emotions can start to manifest. 

"We might start to see some anxiety or lack of focus or there might be some social distancing where kids start to isolate themselves," she said. 

"We might see anger irritability and children that we've not seen before ... sometimes we start to see kids being absent from school and we want to pay attention to that as well. So ... it's a couple of weeks following where we also follow up and make sure that that students are being able to manage their distress."

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