Jennifer Mitchell is living a nightmare.

Three years ago next month, her daughter Kristen lost her life to a drug overdose in Vancouver. She had just barely turned 17.

Why was she in Vancouver?

While Kristen had struggled with drugs for about a year, Mitchell told the Star Monday afternoon, she alleges a man lured her daughter to the city hoping to ensnarl her in the sex trade.

While it’s not an unusual story, it’s a poignant one.

What makes it worse for Mitchell is that her nephew’s was one of three drug-related deaths that prompted the Carcross-Tagish First Nation to declare a state of emergency nearly two weeks ago.

Mitchell said she also knew the two young women from Old Crow who were found deceased at the shelter for the homeless in Whitehorse last week.

The situation has left her with some understandable psychological scars, including anxiety attacks and post-traumatic stress disorder. Death on the streets, it seems, is all around her.

However, it’s also left her with a burning, driven desire to step up and not be silent anymore.

That’s why she chose to talk to the Star following the death of yet another young woman in Whitehorse, with street drugs linked to that fatality as well.

Kristen, she said, began having an on-and-off problem with drugs when she was 16, about a year before her death.

The passing of a close friend triggered the problem, Mitchell said.

Kristen struggled to deal with the death, and leapt into using cocaine, bypassing more typical drugs such as marijuana as she struggled for relief from her grief.

The family, with Mitchell leading the way, tried desperately to find assistance to deal with what became a growing problem.

Mitchell said she contacted various community and government resources for the immediate assistance she felt her daughter needed – without any luck.

Everyone she contacted, Mitchell said, wanted more talking, more consultations, more paperwork and most of all – more waiting.

“There was just no immediate support for her,” Mitchell said.

The desperate search for assistance continued with no results, she added. In the meantime, she feared Kristen’s situation would worsen – and it did.

“She was coaxed to Vancouver by a man who wanted to get her into the sex trade,” Mitchell said sadly.

Kristen’s death is still under investigation, she said. Due to that, she was reluctant to talk about the details.

Fentanyl was involved, Mitchell said, and the photos taken at the scene left her with night terrors – along with her other maladies.

She was determined, though, not to passively accept Kristen’s death.

“For a little while I did give up,” she said. “But now I’m prepared to speak out.”

Her nephew passed away more than a week ago at the Chilkoot Inn, from an overdose.

“Its very tragic,” she said. “He was an ongoing user.”

Unlike Kristen, he had a more extensive history with drug abuse.

Originally from Carcross, he became involved in a treatment program that provided a room at the inn.

Mitchell said the program basically isolated him from his family and friends in Carcross, and he wasn’t at the Chilkoot long before he bought some street drugs.

He holed up in his room by himself, she said, and that’s how he died – alone.

“We have to help people like him before it’s too late,” she said. “We need more awareness, more help for the parents and families, more help for the people addicted.”

While she agrees authorities such as the police should make an effort to chase down and deal with the dealers, she ultimately thinks that’s a bit of a misguided effort.

“There’s always another two or three (dealers) waiting in line,” Mitchell said.

Her friend, Aruna Mangal, also participated in the interview.

She said she has a background in addictions counselling, and is very interested in setting up a private treatment program.

She knew both Mitchell’s daughter and nephew, and was also grappling with how to come to terms with their loss.

The major stumbling block she has found in setting up an alternative program is that she can’t figure out how to access government funding – which she says is supposed to be available.

Mangal is looking for someone to help out with that, and is also interested in talking to someone who might have a building and property that she might be able to use for her program.

“We need a wrap-around model, an approach that deals with generational trauma, long-term relationships,” she said.

“We have an opportunity to change our approach to social services. It’s totally feasible to take a community-based approach.”

“All we’re trying to do is save lives.”