It is with great pleasure and an honour that I draft this memo to introduce myself to all of you. I am also excited to welcome our fellow Rouge Cabin Crew members. My name is Vanessa Beaudoin Grégoire, and I am the new National Coordinator of our Employee Assistance Program.
Over the past five years, I have dedicated over 1,000 hours to this program. It is dear to my heart, and I have loved every moment. I consider it to be a true privilege to stand beside someone in their time of need. Our EAP committee has over twenty peer volunteers who answer, listen, and support every day. If needed, they can also refer members to free, confidential support. In my eyes, they are our quiet heroes. Each one of them brings a specialized and unique set of skills to our team. I am grateful to have them beside me!
Over the past 6 years I have specialized my studies in addiction and trauma informed care, mental health, and CISM (Critical Incident Stress Management). I have also worked in grief support and suicide prevention.
I wish to work towards normalizing certain topics of conversations regarding historically stigmatized issues. My goal is to encourage individual resiliency and to provide emotional, social, and practical support to our group. I love being a Flight Attendant and I adore my work. I have been flying for over 23 years and have had an amazing career, though certainly not without some rough patches along the way. From friendships to marriage, kids and aging parents, life and work balance, anxiety, job security and crew conflict. The pandemic was extremely taxing on my fellow coworkers, but also on my family.
We do not stand alone. This has always been the beauty of this job. We stand stronger together. As an in-flight family, we brave the elements of our industry while keeping a smile on our face; though it can, at times, be the loneliest job while surrounded by millions.
Historically, we have been predominantly reactive when encountering issues. I want to switch our culture and promote support within our community involving all departments.
I would like to close with a reminder that confidentiality is paramount and cornerstone to all we do. Please do not hesitate to contact us. You can also contact me directly by email or by phone.
I will close with this…
“When we imagine our choices and consider which to seize, given a choice between light and dark, we will nearly always find a way of moving toward the light.” – Brian Murray
Thank you!
National Coordinator Employee Assistance Program
Vanessa Beaudoin Grégoire
v.beaudoin@accomponent.ca
Cell: 1-403-472-6868 YYC 3081
Urgent Cell: 1-403-461-4091
Western Region Coordinator
Shannon McBride
s.mcbride@accomponent.ca
1-778-991-4112 YVR 3247
Eastern Region Coordinator
Mary-Rita Dunning
m.dunning@accomponent.ca
T1 Office 1-906-676-2088 YYZ 2222
Cell: 1-647-802-0895