A heartbreaking tragedy struck the Orem community when a Canyon View Junior High School student died on a class field trip on Wednesday. The ninth-grade student died after shooting himself with a loaded gun, which has been ruled a suicide, according to the Utah County Sheriff’s Office.

The Alpine School District mobilized resources to offer emotional support and counselling to students who witnessed the horror involving their classmate at South Fork Park in Provo Canyon, as reported by FOX 13.

Eric Monson, child psychiatrist at the University of Utah, said, “Typically, when people are exposed to traumatic experiences, they will experience increased fear, being on edge.” He shared that they can experience “nightmares, flashbacks — all kinds of things like this can happen,” as reported by FOX 13.

Monsom emphasised the importance of parents carefully listening to their child’s experiences and helping them to grapple with grief. He said, “Everything you can do to reasonably restore the routine your kids would normally go through, including things like being able to go to school.”

In addition to professional help, Monson also recommended using statewide resources like the SafeUT app and the Utah Warm Line (1-833-SPEAKUT), which offers support from crisis-trained peer specialists. However, restoring a sense of psychological safety in the aftermath of such a traumatic event may prove especially challenging.

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