When evacuees flee their homes and walk into your Reception Centre, they are scared, tired, and looking for help.
Questions are coming fast - and many are unanswered.
Those first moments in a Reception Centre matter more than anything.
If your team isn’t ready, you don’t just lose time - you risk confusion, frustration, and missed opportunities to respond effectively when it matters most.
I help communities make sure that doesn’t happen.
Joe and Hilda had seconds to evacuate. Lytton, British Columbia had been setting heat records for three straight days — and then a wildfire tore through the town. Lytton was gone. There was no time to think. No time to plan. They had to leave everything behind. They got in their truck and drove. Like so many evacuees, they didn’t know where they were going… only that they had no home to return to and they needed help.
They arrived at a Reception Centre - tired, shaken, and overwhelmed. I watched them walk through the doors. You could see it immediately. The exhaustion. The fear. The uncertainty. Where do we go? What do we do next?
And in that moment, everything depended on what happened next.
A volunteer stepped forward. Offered them water. Spoke calmly. Registered them. Explained what would happen next. And just like that, you could see it shift. Not everything was solved - how could it be - but in that moment, they felt calmer. They felt seen. They felt like they were going to be okay.
From an empty space → to a coordinated, functioning Reception Centre
A full-day, hands-on training focused on the evacuee experience and what happens in those critical first moments.
This is not theory.
Your team will learn how to respond from the moment evacuees arrive through registration and initial next steps, including:
✅️ What evacuees need in the first minutes
✅️ How to set the tone for the entire response
✅️ Where things typically break down - and how to fix it
Builds understanding of roles, processes, and coordination required to respond effectively.
Your team will gain:
✅ Confidence in their roles and responsibilities
✅ Understanding of how everything connects
✅ Practical tools they can use immediately
Provides teams with practical, hands-on opportunities to apply their knowledge in realistic scenarios.
Your team will:
✅ Identify gaps before a real event
✅ Strengthen teamwork and decision-making under pressure
✅ Build confidence through practice
A space with potential — but no structure, no flow, and no clear starting point.
A coordinated response — clear roles, defined flow, and a team ready to respond from the moment evacuees arrive.
"Jackie’s training completely changed how our team approaches Reception Centre response. What stood out most was her ability to bring real-life experience into the room — it made everything feel practical, relevant, and immediately usable.
After working with Jackie, our team is more confident, more coordinated, and better prepared to respond when it matters most."
With over 30 years of experience supporting communities during disasters, Jackie brings practical, real-world insight into every session.
Her approach is:
✅️ Clear and easy to follow
✅️ Grounded in real experience
✅️ Focused on building confidence, not just knowledge
Her work includes Reception Centre and Group Lodging training across municipal and First Nations communities throughout Canada.
Without practice:
👉 Roles can be unclear
👉 Setup can be delayed
👉 Teams may lack confidence
With exercises:
👉 Teams respond faster
👉 Coordination improves
👉 Confidence increases
👉 The evacuee experience improves
Whether you are just starting or looking to strengthen your current approach to Reception Centre and Group Lodging operations, your team can build a confident and effective response.