Saskatchewan’s only organization dedicated solely to traumatic loss management is seeing record demand for its services.

Caring Hearts, based in Regina, specializes in traumatic death-related grief counselling following accidents, suicides, or homicides.

Executive Director of Caring Hearts, Keely Wight-Young, says in the last two years, the demand for support has increased by 685 per cent.

“Last year, we supported over 400 individuals through counselling, and then we regularly, every month, have six to seven requests for education around the province.”

Wight-Young says their small, yet furiously busy, team receives calls from all over the province requesting their services. For example, Caring Hearts was on the scene following the mass-stabbing event on the James Smith Cree Nation, and in Davidson following the death of three children and two seniors in a housefire.

“When these calls come, we are there, and we walk with families and entire communities in their darkest moments. We are there, and we provide support whether we can afford the cost or not.”

She says despite the high demand for its services, the organization relies mainly on donor funding to get by.

“We do rely on the generosity of our community to offer these services. We rely on a lot of grants, and we are advocating with government right now for them to recognize the critical work that we do.”

In 2024, over 35 per cent of referrals for support came from government funded mental health agencies, which Wight-Young says further solidifies why Caring Hearts should deserve some provincial assistance.

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