From the Tetons to the Salt Range, there have been several recreation-related fatalities this season. Of five reported deaths with ties to the region, since late December, two involved snowmobile accidents and two avalanches.
Mental healthcare workers want to remind the public that during times of loss there are local resources, many of them free.
That includes Kate Schelbe, backbone leader at Teton Behavioral Health Alliance. She recommends staying connected to friends and family, maintaining selfcare and leaning into resources.
“It’s really important to remember that there’s not a right or wrong way to grieve but to allow yourself to feel whatever is coming up and to know that grief is not linear,” Schelbe said.
Elizabeth Koutrelakos is another Jackson-based mental health worker. She knows loss firsthand.
In her 20s, she was skiing with her boyfriend when he was caught in an avalanche and killed. In 2012, she lost friends Chris Onufer and Steve Romeo in a slide in Grand Teton National Park.
Koutrelakos has since become a licensed social worker to help those going through similar grief.
“It was a really hard couple of years and took a lot to get through,” said Koutrelakos, who’s also an Exum splitboard guide.
Finding solace in the mountains again helped with her grieving process. In seasons of high loss, such as this year, she points patients to a growing network of organizations specific to helping with loss in the mountains.
Survivors of Outdoor Adventures and Recoveries, or SOAR, is one starting point. Another is the resilience fund created by the American Avalanche Institute or the Redside Foundation for guide-specific support.
For Koutrelakos, taking each day one at a time can be hard, but also essential.
“It’s really hard to hear that it will get better when you’ve just lost someone really close to you,” Koutrelakos said. “It’s important to know that you can get through the day and maybe that’s just your goal.”
Koutrelakos is part of an expanding cohort of mental health workers in the Tetons, which includes Elizabeth Cheroutes, another licensed mental health worker of several decades.
Cheroutes recommends seeking professional help for those still struggling with grief after three weeks. Teton Valley Mental Health Coalition can pair Idaho residents in Victor and Driggs with therapists. St. John’s Health in Jackson offers a similar service.
For some, Cheroutes said peer not necessarily just professional support can be best. After noticing first responders struggled with grief, she helped start the Teton Interagency Peer Support, or TIPS, in 2018.
TIPS offers free counseling to over a dozen first responder agencies and their families. Beyond providing advanced medical support, the organization also emphasizes peer support, which Cheroutes said takes on many shapes and forms.
“It’s often just, ‘Hey, buddy, how you doing?’” Cheroutes said. “We encourage human-to-human contact. We encourage people to gather together.”
Reaching out also means scheduling check-ins long after news breaks of an incident: following up at three weeks, three months, six months and a year.
“While the tragedy fades, for those who are directly involved, their grieving process is still happening,” Cheroutes said. “If you’ve ever lost a loved one, you know that grief is a long, long journey.”
If you or someone you know is struggling, the Teton Behavioral Health Alliance recommends the following resources:
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: providers free, confidential support for people in distress and those supporting them. Call or text 988 for 24/7 support. https://988lifeline.org/. For immediate emergencies, call 911.
- Mental Health and Recovery Services of Jackson Hole provides compassionate, and affordable mental health and substance use services including a crisis line, walk in services, schedule appointments https://www.mentalhealthandrecoveryjh.org/
- TIPS, Teton Interagency Peer Support, (for first responders and their families) provides education, confidential peer support, and a direct link to mental health professionals for first responders and their families in the Teton County, Wyoming community https://tetontips.org/
- SOAR, Survivors of Outdoor Adventures and Recovery, supports survivors and communities in healing after outdoor accidents. https://www.soar4life.org/
- Climbing Grief Fund provides support to climbers and other mountain recreationists experiencing grief. https://americanalpineclub.org/grieffund
- Avalanche Resilience Project (for Avalanche Professionals and American Avalanche Association members only) provides support and resources for those impacted by mental health challenges associated with avalanches, avalanche work, or avalanche accidents. https://www.americanavalancheassociation.org/resilience-project
- The Redside Foundation (for guides only) supports the Health and Strength of the Professional Outdoor Guiding Community https://www.redsidefoundation.org/
This story has been updated to accurately reflect that Koutrelakos was not caught in the avalanche that killed her partner. –Ed.
