For ESS teams, local governments and the people who show up when a community has to leave home.
Is your ESS plan sitting in a binder gathering dust? Do the training workshops and exercises keep sliding to the bottom of the list?
You're not alone, and it isn't a failure of effort. It's what happens when the work is important but never urgent, right up until the day it's the only thing that matters.
I turn those intentions into something real. Clear plans, training that sticks, and exercises where your team actually gets to practise. When ESS becomes a priority, the plan comes off the shelf.
Over 30 years specializing in Emergency Support Services, including recent work as ESS Director for the City of Vancouver, where I responded to 45 to 60 activations a year, from small call-outs to full Reception and Lodging Centres.
I've supported First Nations ESS with plan development, and I've taught ESS teams across Canada as an instructor with the Justice Institute of BC.
What that means for you is simple. I've been in the room on the bad nights, and I know the difference between a plan that reads well and a plan that holds.
SIGNATURE COURSE
The first moments of an ESS response shape everything that follows. The first interaction at reception, how information gets shared, how support is offered. Those minutes decide whether evacuees feel safe and understood, or overwhelmed and uncertain.
This is where I focus my work. First Moments Matter is a practical, experience-based course built entirely around those critical early interactions, and how to get the flow, the communication and the evacuee experience right from the very beginning.
In person or online, for brand new volunteers or teams who've been doing this for years.
Prepares volunteers to arrive on scene, follow protocols, keep everyone safe, and support evacuees with confidence and care.
For team members stepping into management roles, with hands-on practice through tabletop exercises before it's the real thing.
Real-world exercises that test your plan, strengthen the team, and build the confidence you'll need at the next activation.
A review and refresh of your plan so it reflects what's actually true now, and works as a roadmap your team can follow under pressure.
Built around your community's own needs, risks and people, when the standard programs aren't quite the right shape.
Watch a Reception Centre and Group Lodging exercise unfold, so you can see what good looks like before you run one.
Not sure which one fits? Tell me where your team's at and I'll point you at the right one.
Tell me where your team is at and what's coming up. I'll tell you honestly what I'd do about it.