The emergency
During a severe ice storm in a rural northern region, I work long, brutal days and nights trying to restore power to isolated farms and small towns.
I am 30 years old and still early in my career as a power line technician. I learn on the job while climbing icy poles and working near live wires.
I answer call after call from residents desperate for heat and electricity. The more overtime I work, the more exhausted and overwhelmed I feel. Nights away from my family begin to blur together, and what once felt like good overtime pay now feels like a heavy burden.
When angry residents shout at me about the lack of power, I feel a knot of guilt, as though I’ve personally failed them. My supervisors remind me that restoration takes time, but I struggle to believe it.
The constant pressure, dangerous conditions, and long hours slowly chip away at my confidence, leaving me exhausted and unsure how to cope.
How CanEMERG can help
We have fact sheets, tool kits, and resources for front-line workers like Paul:
- Fact sheet: Moral challenges, moral distress, & moral injury
- Fact sheet: Responses to trauma
- Fact sheet: Managing reactions to stress
- Fact sheet: Building social connections
- Hope for Wellness Helpline: Immediate, culturally competent online chat and telephone crisis intervention counselling support for First Nations and Inuit
- Multicultural Mental Health Resource Centre: Culturally safe and competent mental health information for Canada’s diverse population
Along with guidance for the practitioners, managers, and administrators who direct the system’s response:
- Community mental health and wellness recovery tool kit
- Guidelines to support staff in disaster preparedness
Help is within reach.
