January 06, 2022
If there’s one thing I would say to others in the workforce right now, it would be to go easy on yourself. Everybody is struggling, many of us aren’t okay and we’re working through this as we go.
I reached my own mental health personal threshold in February 2020. It got to the point where one day before work I was sitting at my steering wheel crying, thinking, “I can’t continue to do this.”
I spent 25 years in the military as a naval officer before I started in consulting. It made me a huge advocate for wellness, and especially mental health. I’ve seen too many colleagues in the military suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or operational stress injuries leading to mental health struggles, and in the worst cases, even suicide. But still, I was terrified to come forward. It felt like a personal embarrassment or failure to admit I was struggling, even though I would never impose that standard on anyone else.
In hindsight, the signs of my own burnout were clear long before I reached my limit. I was uncharacteristically moody, getting angry easily and more often, and not sleeping well. I wasn’t looking after myself physically, and I was working less efficiently than normal.
Eventually I went to the partner I worked with and said, “I need a break or I’m going to break.” I was met with incredible support, and everyone on the team, including my clients, rallied behind me and told me to take care of myself. I was lucky, with the support of my loved ones, that I caught my burnout early. I was able to take some time off and it had no impact on my progress at the firm. A year later, I became a partner.
Consulting is a people-oriented business. Without our people, we wouldn’t have a product to sell. In the military it was people first, mission always—and there’s a parallel here. Everybody works hard, but we need to focus on our people. That’s why I advocate for our internal PwC Canada “Be well, work well” mental and physical health initiative. This initiative supports our people by providing various benefits, including an employee and family assistance program and an enhanced mental health benefit. If we don’t truly prioritize wellness, I think we’re bound to fail.
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Chris became a partner in July 2021, and he’s the partner sponsor for PwC Canada’s internal Veterans and Public Safety Inclusion Network. He joined the firm in 2018 as a director and has since helped build PwC Canada’s Public Safety Consulting practice as the lead for federal public safety. He has three daughters, two who live in British Columbia and one who lives with him and his partner in Ottawa.
