Importance of support services outlined after Creeslough explosion

As a sense of eeriness continues to hang over Creeslough, the director of a local counselling service has outlined the various supports that are available.

Liam Cannon, the Director of Counselling at the Pastoral Centre in Letterkenny, visited the site of the Creeslough explosion earlier this week.

Ten people have been killed, another eight were hospitalised with many more injured and displaced when a blast ripped through the Applegreen complex in the town.

“There is immense grief and shock still,” Mr Cannon told Donegal Live.

“People are completely numb. You just have a numb community who have lost family members and friends.

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“There is a sense of eeriness in the area. That is normal when you have so many people in a period of silence and shut-down with nothing to say, just trying to process it.

“We have had early supports available. It is early for people to seek supports. That will happen in the weeks and months ahead. It will be then that people will need services and supports.

“There are children affected too who have lost friends. It is important that they receive support going forward.”

Counselling services are available a seven locations around the county.

Appointments are managed through the main Pastoral Centre office on 074-9121853. The outreach centres are located at Ddunfanaghy, Carndonagh, Buncrana, Ballyshannon, Stranorlar, Letterkenny and Dungloe.

Mr Cannon said: “We never have seen anything on this scale in terms of trauma, this size of a tragic event happen where you have so many people traumatised at the same time. It is right across the age spectrum from young children to adults.

“The supports are available and it is important to look for them.

“Trauma is so different from a physical injury. On many occasions I work with clients who are deeply traumatised. Because they have no physical injury, they may not even go to hospital. It isn’t recognised the impact that trauma has on a person.”

The scale of the devastation has surged right across Donegal, with members of the emergency services from all over the north west having responded immediately to the call.

Mr Cannon said: “There is a lot of trauma among emergency services.

“These people may meet trauma on a regular basis, but they are also humans. Their bodies will act in the same way and they will need support also.”