Burning Ambition: Jaimee Morgenbesser

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1. Brookfield Rural Fire Brigade member Tyrell Blackman (L) and Jaimee Morgenbesser (R) with young members of the community.

2. L–R: Tyson Marshall, Shane Fleming, Tyrell Blackman, Tom Hulbert, Alan Speechley, Pat Burns Snr, Emma Richardson, Mark Farmer, Chris Kilian, Jaimee Morgenbesser, Michael Gordon, Pat Burns Jr, and James Haig.

3. L–R: Gaja Kerry Charlton and Jaimee Morgenbesser.

PHOTOS: JAIMEE MORGENBESSER

BURNING AMBITION: WOMEN IN FIRE AND EMERGENCY—JAIMEE MORGENBESSER

Champions of Change Fire and Emergency Group Implementation Leader Ariana Henderson spoke with Jaimee Morgenbesser about her career in fire and emergency over the past decade, her heroes, her challenges, her highlights, and her advice for women wanting a career in the sector.

ARIANA HENDERSON

Implementation Leader, Champions of Change Fire and Emergency Group

Jaimee Morgenbesser started her career in law and, unexpectedly, found herself assisting the Australian Red Cross after the 2011 Queensland floods. Thinking she “didn’t know how to take blood”, she soon learned about the Australian Red Cross humanitarian role, which sparked a passion to become a Disaster Recovery Practitioner. Since then, she has worked both professionally and voluntarily across multiple states to help communities recover from floods, cyclones, and bushfires, as well as the Bourke Street Mall tragedy. Jaimee learned that she had a deep connection to and passion for community.

Vice-President of Australasian Women in Emergencies (AWE) Network and a member of the Brookfield Rural Fire Brigade, Jaimee recently applied her disaster recovery practitioner knowledge, volunteer experience, and background as an impacted resident to assist her own community in the 2022 South-East Queensland floods.

Admiration: Who have been your greatest heroes or champions in your career?

When I first joined Australian Red Cross, National Recovery Advisor Kate Brady asked me if I was going to be a professional or a martyr. A martyr will say yes to everything. If you’re going to be a professional you need to learn to say no, set boundaries, manage hours, be assertive and respectful, collaborate, and remember self-care. As a young woman, I was desperate to help, and that resulted in burnout after the 2013 Tasmania bushfires. I learned from Kate that I had to be a professional to continue working in disaster recovery.

Emma Richardson from my Brookfield Rural Fire Brigade is one of the most incredible leaders I have ever had the pleasure of working with. I often look at her and think, ‘I just want to be you when I grow up.’

I’ve also been fortunate to work with women like Shona Whitton and Beth Stapleton from Australian Red Cross, Fire and Emergency NZ Deputy Chief Executive Stephanie Rotarangi, and QFES Deputy Commissioner Joanne Greenfield, who champion women in fire and emergency. My mentor Jillian Edwards and friend Renae Hanvin have always been willing to give their insights and support. Gaja (Aunty) Kerry Charlton, Traditional Custodian and Elder from Yuggera Country, has generously shared her knowledge. I have also had great male allies including Collin Sivalingum, John Richardson, and Mark Crosweller.

The leadership team of the AWE Network—Bridget Tehan, Amanda

Go and volunteer in your community— being a community connector is powerful. It is the solidarity that is critical to building resilient communities.

Lamont, Kath Cooney, Lisa Maree Jackson, Zoe D’Arcy, and Alicia Palmer—have achieved much in raising the profile of women in just a few years, including recent representation at the 2022 Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Brisbane this October.

My heroes have been the changemakers, the rebels, and the people who have demanded more of themselves and others to help people before, during, and after disasters.

Adversity: What hardships or challenges have you had to overcome?

As a survivor of domestic family violence and childhood abuse, I didn’t realise how much of an impact that had on my life until I was diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder. I have had to recognise that my people-pleasing, perfectionism, and savior complex is why I am good at working in disasters—because I am used to living in a crisis. I am comfortable when it’s not happening to me, and I can control it. It is a challenge to overcome the ‘personal versus professional’, it’s difficult finding a role where you can be yourself unencumbered by power structures—finding a way to be myself: Calamity Jaim.

In this year’s South-East Queensland floods, I discovered that no matter how well trained you are, it’s different when disaster happens to you. I learned that everyone has the capacity to be overwhelmed. Beforehand, as a practitioner, I had been in a privileged position of listening to people as they were winched off their homes. Now I have lived experience as an impacted resident of a community.

I remembered learning from Dr Rob Gordon about the irreversible trauma of the Mud Army in the 2011 Brisbane floods. As a community member in 2022, I faced a potential repeat of this. I found myself working with my local brigade and community leaders to raise awareness that recovery practitioners, although well-intentioned, needed to slow down and let the community lead the right recovery for their own needs, instead of rushing into Mud Army 2.0.

It was hard at times to keep my head above water, juggling competing priorities and wearing different hats and responsibilities. I decided I had to take extended leave from Australian Red Cross to focus on my community recovery needs. Often, the system thinks the faster people recover the better but, in reality, it needs to be the pace of when and what the community needs. It is critical to listen to community voices.

Achievement: What do you see as the greatest highlights and rewards of your career?

In 2018, I was on maternity leave with my daughter when flooding occurred across Queensland. My friend Collin asked if I could assist at Australian Red Cross, and the only way that could happen was if I brought my six-month-old baby into the office. Georgia would come into the office in her pram with me, and it was beautiful to be able to balance being a mum and being Jaimee. In 2019, I was on maternity leave with my son, and I had significant post-natal depression and was watching what was going on with the Black Summer bushfires across Queensland, NSW, Victoria, and SA. I knew I had the capability and capacity to help and, although I love being a mum, I couldn’t just sit there. So, once again, I volunteered to assist Australian Red Cross and my son Ted came into the office. I was supported by Recovery Coordinator Shona Whitton to work closely with her on the $200 million recovery program.

I was a sponge. It was the greatest privilege to learn from people like Dr Rob Gordon, Anne Leadbeater, Steve Pascoe, Kris Newton, and Sarah U’Brien as part of the Disaster Recovery mentor program. It was great to be able to leverage their lived experience and wisdom to help others. Every day I was excited to get out of bed—having mentors ‘normalised’ the experience for people. Being part of it was extraordinary.

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Ambition: What advice would you give to women wanting to start or accelerate their career in fire and emergency?

Network. Network. Network. There are women who desperately want to help you. Create opportunities for yourself, these women want to bring you along. Be in their orbit. Groups like AWE Network, Women and Firefighting Australasia, and Bronnie Macintosh’s ‘Girls on Fire’ program are all so powerful. Go and volunteer in your community—being a community connector is powerful. It is the solidarity that is critical to building resilient communities.

4. L–R: Samuel Savage, Janelle Saffin, Jaimee Morgenbesser, and Julie Perkins.

5. L–R: Deborah O’Connell, Amanda Lamont, Sioux Campbell, Michelle Villeneuve, Helen Styles, Jaimee Morgenbesser, and Renae Hanvin.

PHOTOS: JAIMEE MORGENBESSER