Damage Done

An unflinching portrayal of how one idealistic young RCMP officer battled her way through job-induced trauma, anger and disillusionment by turning to horses – and how her path to healing helped her reach out to other first responders The first responders and other front line service providers who serve our country and our communities with courage and dedication have been suffering in silence. Studies and statistics show that they experience catastrophic rates of divorce, alcoholism and depression, but they often are unable or unwilling to tell their stories or find the resources they need to help themselves. In 2014, the silence could be held no longer when over the course of three months, 15 first responders across the country committed suicide. Former RCMP officer Deanna Lennox courageously shares her own story of job-induced trauma, anger and disillusionment and reveals the events that eventually pushed her mind, body and spirit to the breaking point. But this is a story not only of high-speed car chases, drug busts and the author's time posing undercover, but more importantly, what came after – how an angry and bitter cop’s relationship with a horse helped her heal the psychological wounds she incurred in the line of duty. Damage Done chronicles Lennox's momentous change and the steps she took to reach out to other first responders by creating the annual War Horse Symposium, a forum to discuss occupational stress injuries, and the non-profit charitable organization the War Horse Awareness Foundation. With the symposium and with this book, Lennox aims to inspire rather than to blame and to add her voice to an emerging conversation about how to protect those who put themselves on the front line for us.