Libby Elliott - Discovering Your Strength While Facing The Fire

The very essence of resilience is in one’s ability to bend, bounce back and respond to adversity with a sense of hope.  As humans, we have an amazing capacity to overcome challenges and stretch ourselves.  In this episode we are highlighting a beautiful example of what is possible when we set a goal, have the tenacity to see it through and courage to face obstacles en route. 

Libby Elliott is a third year social work student at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops and a wildland firefighter in the summer.  Libby speaks to the many challenges she had to overcome to achieve this job, and the unexpected turn of events that rocked her to her core. 

 On June 30, 2021, just 6 weeks into her summer job, and stationed out of Lytton, BC LIbby was living her dream. Lytton, like many BC communities across BC that summer were experiencing record breaking heat waves and draught.   While fighting a forest fire just a short distance away, Libby and her crew received word that the whole town of Lytton had burned to the ground.

At 20 years of age, Libby walks us through her personal experience of this trauma, the complexities of grief and the mindset that helped her navigate one of the most traumatic events in her life.