A Whitehorse-based resource centre for former students of native residential schools has seen a high demand for counselling since compensation payments started rolling in last fall, its executive director says.

The Committee on Abuse in Residential Schools (CAIRS) provides counselling and a place for people to deal with personal issues related to their experiences in residential schools.

Executive director Norm Drynock said Tuesday that CAIRS counsellors have been extremely busy since former students started receiving compensation cheques — known as common experience payments — from the federal government last fall.

"This, to some degree, has contributed to deaths," Drynock told CBC News in an interview.

Drynock said he's not sure how many deaths are connected to compensation cheques, but said he has heard of at least 19 deaths in the past two months.

He noted that the trauma of having to recount traumatic school experiences — often involving separation from family, abuse and a loss of one's culture — has created a lot of wounds in people.

"In order to get these records, they have to tell their story over and over and over. Everytime they go someplace else to get a record," he said.

"I've had clients in here that are literally shaking and very upset, very angry, very stressed out."

Many former students depend on talking to family members, but Drynock said the larger community can also help them move on by providing support.

"One of the most powerful medicines a human being can have is being acknowledged and respected, no matter what shape you're in," he said.

The Champagne and Aishihik First Nation in Haines Junction is  reaching out to those communities who are losing people, organizing a territory-wide prayer circle for April 30.