Kayla Boisvert is thanking B.C. paramedics, hospital staff, search-and-rescue crews and community members who helped during the search after she went missing near the Shambhala Music Festival.
Boisvert, 28, was found safe July 31 after being reported missing July 28.
She spoke publicly for the first time since her disappearance in a video posted to social media Aug. 8, thanking the people who helped search for her and get her home.
Boisvert said she was found near the Nelway border and taken into the care of B.C. paramedics before being brought to hospital in Trail.
She praised the care she received.
“I was taken into care of BC paramedics. They kept me safe and brought me to the hospital in Trail, where they took really good care of me.”
Boisvert also thanked B.C. Search and Rescue, festival attendees and locals who helped spread information about her disappearance, including people who shared posts on social media.
She said her two brothers travelled from Ontario to B.C. to help with the search and credited the search-and-rescue team with helping bring her home safely.
“It made the biggest difference having my two brothers there helping search and rescue team, and I wanna thank them so much for putting everything aside to make sure that I got home safe,” said Boisvert.
“Same with the search and rescue team there in BC and all the festival attendees and locals spreading awareness over social media, just getting the information out, everything that would be helpful in locating me.”
Boisvert provided few details about what happened while she was missing and said she is not yet ready to share exactly what happened as she continues to process her experience.
“I’ve been doing all right overall. Still fresh, still processing, definitely in different ways than other people would process,” she said. “I’m just taking it day by day. I don’t wanna share what happened yet.”
She described being alone in an unfamiliar area without knowing when she would find food or a source of water.
“I was lost in the forest, had no idea where I was until I was able to get information on the way, have some of an idea of where to go for help,” she said.
“I wouldn’t wish anyone to ever experience that. Literally, like, being by yourself, no one around you, unfamiliar area, not knowing when you were going to find food next or a water source. But thankfully, I was able to figure it out enough to survive until, until I got help.”
She said she has started therapy and is taking stress leave from work while she processes what happened.
Boisvert also thanked people who donated to a GoFundMe campaign launched during the search. The campaign raised more than $20,000 before it was paused.
According to Boisvert, 60 per cent of the funds went toward travel expenses for her brothers to get to B.C., with the remainder going to a search-and-rescue team in the province.
She said her family was grateful to the search-and-rescue team for being informative and allowing her brothers to get involved in the search.
“My family said that they were great to deal with, very informative and let them get involved in, in the search.”
Boisvert said she hopes to eventually share more about her experience and use it to start conversations about people who go missing and the challenges they face.
“There’s a lot of people out there in the same situation, still ongoing, missing people and just other terrible things that happen in this world, other reasons for people going missing. And I’m hoping…I wanna try my best to heal myself as much as possible to be able to start those conversations.”
For now, she said she is focused on healing and returning to some of the activities she enjoys.
“I’ve personally never really been so grateful to be here and back at home,” Boisvert said. “When I was out there, I did not think I was going to make it back home.”
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