Counsellor affected by road tragedy urges others to come forward

By Jonathan Magee

A MOUNTCHARLES woman who lost her partner in a fatal road collision is urging bereaved families across Donegal to come forward and seek support.

RVSNID (Road Victim Support Northern Ireland-Donegal) holds monthly support group meetings at the Women’s Centre on the Port Road in Letterkenny, offering a safe space for those bereaved through road traffic collisions.

Counselling is also offered at other locations across Donegal and the North, including Derry and Cookstown. The service is delivered by qualified counsellors — each with their own lived experience of losing a loved one to a road collision.

RVSNID ‘Drive to Arrive’ initiative

What makes the group unique is that every professional involved has walked that same path, bringing both clinical expertise and personal understanding to those they support.

Marie Furey, a counsellor with the organisation, said that some people in the county are suffering in silence following road deaths — unaware that professional support is available to them locally.

“I had no professional support network locally, and that’s why I got involved with this group — to help others in my situation,” she said.

Marie knows that experience first-hand. Her partner, Jonathan (Jonny) Treanor, was killed on Easter Monday 2022 in a collision, and in the immediate aftermath she had to travel to Northern Ireland just to access a support group.

Marie Furey with a picture of her late partner Jonny Treanor

Now a qualified counsellor with both Level 4 and Level 5 qualifications, she volunteers her services within the group, drawing on professional training and personal experience in equal measure.

She said: “I’ve recently had a session with somebody that lost their partner — that’s four years on from losing my own partner.

“It still hit really hard.

“But I was able to support that person on a different level, because I really did truly get what they were going through.”

She recalled the words of that client: “Meeting you today has given me some sort of hope, seeing how far you’ve come.”

Marie describes the aftermath of a fatal collision as a world most people are entirely unprepared for — inquests, solicitors, investigations, all arriving at once in the rawest weeks of grief.

“Sudden death, traumatic death — it’s completely different to a normal death. You’re thrown into a whole new world,” she said.

“There’s no right or wrong way to grieve. It comes in waves — and we just try to teach people that it is normal to feel how you’re feeling,” she added.

Monthly support meetings are open to anyone in Donegal or the North affected by road collision bereavement, regardless of how recent or long ago their loss occurred — a space where people can connect with others who have been affected.

RVSNID also delivers road safety education in schools, with volunteers speaking to Transition Year and Leaving Cert pupils about the ‘Fatal Five’ behaviours and COAST initiatives. The service is advocating for Caoimhe’s Law, which would criminalise the filming and sharing of victims at crash scenes.

RSVNID advocates for Caoimhe’s law in the North – it’s not your story to tell

The Northern Ireland legislation is expected to be included within the Department of Justice’s mandate this year.

Central to RVSNID’s ‘Drive to Arrive’ Road Safety programme is the ‘Fatal Five’ – speeding, drink or drug driving, not wearing a seatbelt, using a mobile phone, and careless or inattentive driving behaviours.

These five factors have been identified through evidence as contributing to 95% of preventable road traffic fatalities, often involving one or more of these factors.

Delivered in schools, the ‘Fatal Five’ programme raises awareness of these risks while reinforcing a clear message – every driver has a personal responsibility to act safely. The majority of these deaths are preventable and stem from individual choices behind the wheel.