There are signs that the mental health of residents in Lac-Megantic is improving.
Next week marks the sixth anniversary of a train disaster that claimed 47 lives when it exploded in the heart of the Quebec town.
For the first time since the tragedy, there are significant signs that people are feeling less distress, according to a report for the regional public health board the CIUSSS in the Eastern Townships, the Sherbrooke University Hospital Centre and the University of Quebec in Chicoutimi
Researchers say a significant reason for that improvement is how the community has come together over the past six years.
They pointed to the recent development of a new public venue in Lac-Megantic called Place Ephemere, which provides a place to hold social activities and gatherings, as being a key part of the recovery.
The study showed that in 2018, residents showed a marked improvement in having a strong sense of belonging in their community and a stronger sense of safety.
The survey compared results in Lac-Megantic to those of similar surveys taken a year and three years after the disaster.
Researchers looked at several indicators of mental health and found that over the course of time, there was a decrease in psychological distress and mood disorders.
What came as a bit of a surprise is what the researchers found when they compared Lac-Megantic to some other regions.
“What's very interesting here is that in the rest of the l'Estrie region, we have observed during the same period of time, deterioration in mental health. People overall in the region are more stressed out, more psychologically distressed, they are more often diagnosed with anxiety disorders and mood disorders, while this is no longer the case in Lac-Megantic. These are very good signs,” said Melissa Genereux, director of public health for the CIUSSS in the Eastern Townships.
The study includes several lessons from the Lac-Megantic disaster that they said could be applied in other situations.
Those lessons include the importance of monitoring a community's physical and psychosocial health after a trauma, the importance of working closely with local organizations and making sure to seek out and hear from high-risk groups.
