How Quebec City is mending the emotional scars left after the mosque attack

Three days after the deadlyattack at a Quebec Citymosque, Sad Akjour sat at his kitchen table with a bandage over his left shoulder and spoke to CBC about being shot while inside the mosque on the night of the attack.

He was convinced he would die.

But when Akjourspoke about the first responders he began to tear up.

"To see how they acted, quickly and well. From the police officers inside the mosque, the paramedics," Akjour said, his voice trailing off.

"They did it with vocation," adding that a nurse, who had just finished her shift, even came back to see how he was doing.

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Akjouras well as first responders and medical personnel are among those who have been offered psychological help this week to help heal thescars left behind by the attack.

In the wake of the shootingatemporarycentre was set up at the Jeffrey Hale Hospital toconnect people who might need help to specialists working directly on site or in the community.

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JoseMartelis assistant director of psychological services with the regional health agency for the Quebec City region.

Forty-eight hours after the attack, she said trained professionals including social workers weredispatched to the scene and hospital rooms to speak to familymembers and survivors.

In the days following, they have worked with the city to identify those who were left bereaved or traumatized by the attack to offer them support, including some home visits.

Counsellorswere also dispatched to schools and authorities aretelling anyone seeking psychological or social supportto call 811 for help.

School system dealing directly with affected children

Seventeen children lost their fathers that night, many of them students at Quebec City schools. Several students also witnessed the attack at the mosque.

AtcoleVersant-Notre-Dame-de-Foy, just steps away from the mosque, 40 per cent of the students are Muslim. None of the students at the school lost a parent, but many who live close by heard gunfire.

"We have many refugees here in our school,"JoseBlangera counsellor with the school, said.

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"They found refuge here in Quebec and Canada, often to flee from violence."

Blangersaidcounsellorsspoke with roughly 30 students.

"They told us that gunfire was the kind of thing they use to hear in their home countries."

Finding the right words to say

AnnikDeCellesis an English teacher at the private Catholic schoolSminairedesPresMaristes.

Dozens of Muslim students attend the school, including the son of AzzeddineSoufiane, one of the six men killed in the mosque attack.

De Celles said the school's principal met each Muslimstudent individually with a counsellor.

Counsellorsalso visited classrooms to encourage the students to talk and discuss their feelings.

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"Some of them were extremely angry, because either their own parents were there or knew somebody that was there."

DeCellessaid the students wanted to talk, and it was important to have a specialist on site.

"I think it was important for them to have an outlet, not just on the social media to talk between each other, but to talk out loud about it," she said.

It was also important, DeCellessaid, to talk to the students about the words to use.

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"Sometimes they want to make jokes, they're insecure, they're nervous about the situation so things don't come out the right way, so we have to help them through that, help them be respectful, and know what to say and how to say it."

DeCellessaid teachers are encouraging students to put themselves in the shoes of the young man who lost his father.

"We told them to be respectful about his grieving time and he's going to deal with it, and to just be there for him if he needsthem."

Shock is processed in stages:trauma psychologist

Jean-BernardPocreauis a psychologist with the regional health agency who specializes in trauma and is responsible for specialized services for immigrants and refugees.

In the days following the attack he met with the families of victims, witnesses of the attack as well as first responders and medical personnel who treated the injured.

He said in the first 72 hours it is normal to react to shock in several ways.

"Reactions of anxiety, reactions of fear, of insecurity where the threat feels like it is everywhere."

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Some people also feel intense emotion such as being stunned or excited, he said.

In the weeks following the shooting, the emotions willsubside and for some disappear. Bernard said it is after a month that professionals can start to see if someone is experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder.

Even though many symptoms disappear or subside, they can resurface weeks, months, even years later.

Bernard said people express their feelings best in their first language, and several interpreters have been made available to help anyone communicate with a counselloror a psychologist.

He said many people have been touched by the events to various degrees, and while many of the symptoms people might be experiencing will eventually diminish, it will be important to pay attention over the course of the next months.

"The shock wave touched the people affected directly, the witnesses, but also the the community of the city ofQuebec."

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