A charity that supports families through grief says it is seeing first-hand the impact of B.C.’s drug crisis.
Lumara said it has seen a five-fold increase in the number of people seeking help after losing a loved one to drugs and staff say they are struggling to keep up with demand.
Sue Blom-Cadotte’s daughter Maaika died of a drug overdose in December 2021 when she was only 17 years old.
Blom-Cadotte and her family turned to a grief and bereavement camp put on by Lumara, which is a small B.C.-based charity.
She said it changed her and her youngest daughter’s lives.
“She met other kids there that were the same,” Blom-Cadotte said
“I feel like it’s hard as a parent but as a kid navigating through this, not knowing anybody else who has lost a parent or sibling, it’s hard.”
Lumara provides music, therapy and a variety of activities at the camp but staff said they are seeing a five-fold increase in families seeking help due to the drug crisis.
“I wanted to create a place where people could go after a significant loss,” Heather Mohan, the executive director of Lumara told Global News.
“Four years ago one in every 18 or 19 families would come to us with a drug-related death and now we’re looking at one in every three or four referrals.”
According to the BC Coroners Service, there has been a steady rise in toxic drug deaths over the last few years in people under 39.
Lumara operates solely on grants and donations.
There is one four-day camp in B.C. this week and another in Ontario in October, but out of 100 applications, only 34 families were accepted.
“For me, it’s connection, connection with other people who have gone through the same thing,” Blom-Cadotte said.