Cheryl Hunt began her career with the Ottawa Fire Service in 2003. She was one of the first women to be hired by the OFS and is one of the highest-ranking female officers with OFS as a Safety Officer in suppression. Cheryl represents still only 4% of the workforce of firefighters across North America. In an effort to increase these numbers, she sits on the board of directors for Fire Service Women Ontario as a General Director and Annual Symposium Co-Chair. FSWO is a non-for-profit organization aimed at encouraging, educating and empowering women in the fire service. 

Over the course of her career Cheryl has specialized in water rescue, trench and collapse rescue and enclosure fire dynamics live fire training. However, Cheryl’s greatest and most challenging accomplishments to date are a result of having been diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety and depression which almost led her to the brink of suicide. Cheryl has become a strong advocate for mental health in the fire service and hopes that breaking her silence and sharing her story will help break down the stigma associated with mental health in the fire service. She is trained as a Mental Health First Aid instructor by the Mental Health Commission of Canada and has taught this program to the members of OFS. Cheryl is trained in Suicide Prevention and serves as an active member of the OFS Peer Support Team. 

As a cohort graduate Cheryl is indebted to Project Trauma Support for helping give her the support and tools to rediscover and take back control of her life. She is now actively involved as a mentor for various programs offered by PTS as a mentor and resilience life coach. Having a mental health injury has changed how Cheryl approaches peer support and instruction and she is no longer choosing to simply exist in life. She is finally living her most authentic and joyful life alongside her 3 incredible children and beautiful fiancé Kate.