FRONTLINE EXPERIENCE
For several years, I served as Executive Director of an organization supporting downtown Toronto’s street community affected by addiction, mental illness, poverty, prostitution, and homelessness.

That experience taught me a lasting lesson: everyone is lovable once you know their story. Yet hearing hundreds of stories of trauma and suffering, attending many funerals, and witnessing injustice and failing social systems took a toll.

Eventually, I burned out.

I now understand that I experienced primary trauma, secondary traumatic stress and moral distress. An extended leave helped me recover. However, I was also diagnosed with cancer during that time. After returning to work, I began a career in cancer care and am very grateful that I have been cancer-free for over 20 years.

PROFESSIONAL & CAREGIVING ROLES
In regional and national management roles at a cancer agency, I supported women with terminal cancer and their families through suffering, loss, and death—frontline work in a new role and setting. During this time, I spent 10 years caring for my aging parents, both with dementia.

COMPASSION FATIGUE EDUCATION:
To prevent another burnout, I learned to identify my vulnerabilities and warning signs.

Further education and training in this field led me to launch a consulting business offering burnout and compassion fatigue workshops to help other frontline staff avoid similar experiences and strengthen organizational support.

Now based in London, I offer these services to groups, organizations, and staff locally and in the surrounding area.