Name: Examining the landscape of stress in Canadian emergency managers: a closer look at the everyday experiences of EM work to support sustainable positive mental health outcomes for practitioners
Start: 2026-05-12T11:00:00-0600
End: 2026-05-12T12:00:00-0600

2026 CRHNet Symposium

Examining the landscape of stress in Canadian emergency managers: a closer look at the everyday experiences of EM work to support sustainable positive mental health outcomes for practitioners

Tuesday May 12, 2026 11:00am - 12:00pm MDT

PIC 233

Day after day, emergency managers in Canada prepare for, respond to, and help communities recover from and mitigate various types of hazards, some of which overlap or require long-term activation of emergency operation centres. This group of practitioners experience varying types and degrees of stress, require extraordinary coping skills as well as access to enabling systems and helpful interventions to perform their duties in ways that maintain their own well-being. Unsurprisingly, stress, including harmful outcomes such as trauma, burnout and compassion fatigue are common in the emergency management profession and can result in significant health consequences, early or premature departure from the job, and as a result, a potential reduction in community safety. Despite this, little attention has been paid to date in research on the experiences of stress (acute and chronic) in the Canadian emergency management context, or how, for example, demands of work, role structure and extra-organizational factors contribute to individual pressures and strain.

This session aims to initiate conversations with EM representatives / stakeholders from across the country about stress and its related features. The goal is to help normalize occupational stress as a shared human experience, to reflect on personal stress experiences in anonymized ways and without oversharing, and to learn about different strategies in place for coping, or helpful resources from peers (in the room).

Speakers

Jennifer Spinney

Assistant Professor & Undergraduate Area Coordinator, Disaster & Emergency Management, York University

Jennifer Spinney is trained as a sociocultural anthropologist (PhD, Western U 2019) and works as an Assistant Professor and the Undergraduate Area Coordinator in the Disaster & Emergency Management program at York University in Toronto, Canada. Adopting primarily qualitative research... Read More →

Tuesday May 12, 2026 11:00am - 12:00pm MDT
PIC 233 NAIT Producitivity and Innovation Centre

Workshop

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2026 CRHNet Symposium

Jennifer Spinney

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2026 CRHNet Symposium

Jennifer Spinney

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