Outstanding Women on the Frontlines: Kristen Tynes

The Tema Foundation is proud to kick off International Women’s week by highlighting some of the phenomenal, driven and passionate women working towards healthier mental health. Welcome to our second year of our Outstanding Women on the Frontlines Series!

Kristen Tynes, Executive Director, Maintenance Enforcement & Victim Services

Kristen has more than 25 years of experience in education, public policy, communications and journalism. Her career began as a journalist, moving into tv, print and radio, spending over a decade telling peoples' stories. After a brief time teaching high school her interests moved to Communications leading to her current ED position with Maintenance Enforcement and Victim Services.

“I've always wanted to work with people, helping them to find and then share their voice, especially those whose voices have been suppressed. As I became a manager of people I fell in love with creating strong, healthy resilient teams and safe and inclusive workplaces. This became my favourite part of the work and resulted in performance improvements in my team. I believe it is at the core of what we do.”

Kristen is also a member of the African Canadian Women in the Public Service Peer Support team, which was just recently created in collaboration with The Tema Foundation. During her time as a journalist and teacher, she worked with people struggling with mental health and witnessed how much it affects someone's daily life. Through this work she also became aware of how few people understand mental health and the lack of support that was available for those in need.

Creating Safe and Inclusive Spaces

Creating safe and inclusive environments for vulnerable Nova Scotians has been the cornerstone of Kristen's passionate work. This includes her work at the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development from 2018-2020, where she led the government's response to the Commission on Inclusive Education and oversight of the development and implementation of the new Inclusive Education Strategy and model. She also played a key role leading the development of the back-to-school plan in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She has proudly supported her staff with MEVS, this includes open and accessible communication, compassionate and empathetic human resources and leadership approaches and the development of a staff wellness plan.

Never taking her impressive accomplishments for granted, Kristen has expressed her deep gratitude for the women who have helped ignite her spark.

“I hate to sound cliche, but my greatest female inspirations really are the women of colour who have come before me, making my success possible. This includes my mother and aunts who faced even greater obstacles and remained resilient and supportive of each other. It also includes the women of colour today who are colleagues. They have also faced many barriers and are constantly looking around them to see who needs a hand up. A final famous example is Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand's former leader, who has shown the world how a compassionate, empathetic, feminine style of leadership is actually stronger and gets better results.”

Prioritizing caring for yourself so you can care for others

The importance of leading healthy and resilient teams ensures Kristen takes time for her own mental health and self-care. “I care for my mental health by ensuring regular connections with the people in my life who nourish my soul. This includes my husband, kids, dog, friends and family. Regular contact with them sprinkled with quiet time on my own keeps me healthy and grounded. I'm also a sharer. When I'm stressed I need to talk things through with someone. I find people I feel safe with and share. I also remind myself that I'm part of something bigger than myself. This can sometimes help me understand how big or small my issue is and remind me that there is help out there.”

Surround yourself with people who support you

Her advice carries through to young women who are deciding their own path into the frontlines. Kristen stresses the importance of having your people. The ones you trust and feel safe with, the ones who truly support you – in both your personal and professional lives.

“My advice would be to build those circles, and stay away from those who claim to be, but are competitive and undermining. Having supporters in your corner and supporting others will carry you when times are tough.”

Kristen usually unwinds from the day by spending time with friends and family, doing yoga, meditating or walking with her dog.