When Vanessa McHugh and Hélina Bear met at STRONG’s April 2026 casting call, something shifted in the room. While at first glance the two may seem like complete opposites—Vanessa, with her calm demeanor, leveled responses, and kind, understanding smile, and Hélina’s tough-to-quell, capacious enthusiasm for anything and everything—upon learning that they share careers in the line of first response, it was hard to keep them apart for the remainder of the day.
“For me, it was Hélina’s energy,” Vanessa, a veteran police officer, recalls of her first impression. “She had big, big energy.”
Hélina, a firefighter who’s fairly new on the scene, was drawn to Vanessa for a completely different, but equally understandable, reason. “I was going to say her eyes,” she shares about what first caught her attention. “There’s a confidence and desire to help there—you can almost see it in them.”
A discussion with these two women from similar but disparate fields reveals that strength and compassion are characteristics needed to thrive in high-stress emergency situations, and that no matter what, women belong in these rooms. And though both the police force and the firefighting sector have welcomed more and more women into their ranks since Vanessa began her career 22 years ago, it’s the next generation of warriors like Hélina who are helping carry the torch forward.
A Tough Start
Though it was 2004 when Vanessa made her first bold move in becoming a police officer, the desire to make a difference in her community had long been brewing.
“I was 13 when I really made the choice,” she remembers. “I wanted to do something exciting. In all the police shows, they get to chase people and catch the bad guys, and I was a tomboy growing up. I played sports. I roughhoused a lot.”
But when she first started out, there wasn’t a huge influx of women looking to enter the field. In fact, in her recruiting class, there were only five female candidates out of nearly 30 students. Thankfully, things have taken a turn for the better, equity-wise.
Supporting the commitment to increasing opportunities for women in policing, Vanessa created the R.I.S.E. mentorship program to help aspiring officers recognize their own potential. At the heart of the program are dedicated police officers who volunteer as mentors. Their belief in these women helps build confidence, challenge self-doubt, and empower participants to pursue policing, which they may never have thought possible.
“Part of the reason I created the R.I.S.E. mentorship program was because I kept meeting women who had the ability but lacked confidence,” she explains. “They would say, ‘I don’t think I’m ready,’ or ‘I don’t think I’m good enough.’ Watching those same women progress through the program, gain confidence, challenge themselves physically and mentally, and then potentially get an offer of employment has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my career.” Young women like Hélina who are looking to stake their claim as a first responder are most likely to benefit from these types of programs, though women at every stage in their career can also find the added support beneficial.
“I think it’s important for people to know that behind the uniforms are human beings.”
– Vanessa
At Hélina’s station, also located in Ontario, she’s seen a similar shift in demographics, though the push for parity between men and women has progressed more informally. It’s the actions and support of firefighters with more experience than her that have helped steer her career in the right direction.
“There’s not one person who’s taught me everything I know,” Hélina clarifies. “I’ve had people help me with different aspects, though. In first response, there’s so many little nuanced things, like how to deal with the personal side of things, or the strength side of things, or surviving a course. I’ve taken from people in positions above me as a mentor, but not like, ‘This is my person. I want to be them someday.’”
Outside of the station, however, Hélina has more guiding forces than many in her position: as a third generation firefighter, her dad, grandfather, and two stepmothers all held or hold positions in the field, meaning unlike Vanessa, she had ample real-life exposure to the trials and tribulations of her chosen profession.
Still, both women recognize the need for structures and systems in which women can boost each other up, especially in male-dominated fields like firefighting and law enforcement. Similarly, both also recognize it’s not just getting into the field that can be challenging: the mental and emotional stability of first responders is an area that, while gaining attention, still has a long way to go before sufficiently meeting the needs of the community.
Finding Hope
Any person who has felt the call to become a first responder can tell you that it’s not all helping the elderly cross the road or saving wayward cats from trees.
Vanessa explains the highs and lows best. “At the heart of it, both of our careers are about showing up for people on the worst days of their lives,” she explains. “The biggest similarity is about staying calm when someone else’s world feels like it’s falling apart.
“There’s a lot more you can actually do than what you think you can do.”
– Hélina
“Over 22 years, I’ve learned that some calls leave marks you don’t see. We carry cumulative stress, grief, and experiences that change us. Learning how to process that and still continue to show up as an officer, a mother, a wife, and a friend can be challenging.” It’s this shared reality that caused Vanessa and Hélina to forge such a fast friendship.
“As a first responder, once there’s another one in the room, you kind of know, okay, this is a part of me I’m allowed to talk about,” says Hélina. “With the general population, you can’t just come in hot—you need to kind of test the waters,” specifically when joking about topics that may not resonate with others.
“Some people think they have a dark sense of humor,” she continues, “but we’ve been through so much. Basically, you have to know where to toe the line.”
In the end, it’s the bonds they forge in office, on calls, and during chance meetings like the casting call that allow Vanessa, Hélina, and those like them to not only survive, but to find the silver lining in some pretty dark events.
“Mental health conversations are becoming more accepted, but we still have work to do,” notes Vanessa. “I think it’s important for people to know that behind the uniforms are human beings carrying their own stories and their own battles.”
But don’t let that candidness dissuade you from a similar career, if you’re really, really ready to take the leap. As Hélina notes, “You just have to know what you’re willing to take. It’s not a comfortable job. But if you try it and you’re like ‘Gosh, I want more of this,’ that’s perfect. Lean in—there’s a lot more you can actually do than what you think you can do.”
