DRRN External Partner Highlights: Emily Pletsch

1. Could you introduce yourself and tell us about your current work or projects?

Hello! My name is Emily Pletsch (she/they), I often go by Em. I am a proud auntie, cat mom, musician, wild woman, adventurer, queer community member, and social advocate. I live, work, play, and dance on unceded Syilx Okanagan land in what is colonially known as Penticton. 

In my current role as the Climate Emergencies and Mental Health Advisor with the Canadian Mental Health Association BC Division, I support CMHA Branches across BC with climate-related impacts through strengthening continuity of mental health services during and after disasters, coordinating trainings and in-person table-top exercises, developing cross-community agreements, funding advocacy, and educate on climate-related mental health impacts. As well as work with provincial partners in co-developing resources, coordination, planning and response for Mental Health and Psychosocial Supports (MHPSS). CMHA BC Division hosts the website BCdisasterstress.ca, which provides information and co-developed resources on coping during emergencies. 

In 2022, I led the development of United Way’s provincially recognized Social Sector Activation Guide, which is utilized to strengthen cross‑sector collaboration that centers equity and relationality in emergency preparedness, response, and recovery.

Across all my work, I am committed to building inclusive, collaborative, and caring communities. Today and always working towards an environmentally and socially just world.

2. What motivated you to want to connect with the DRRN?

I was motivated to connect with the DRRN because I deeply value trans-disciplinary collaboration and the exchange of ideas across sectors. Climate‑related emergencies are not isolated, they are intertwined with social, ecological, and structural determinants of health. Being part of the DRRN felt like an opportunity to learn from diverse academic and community perspectives, stay connected to emerging research, and build relationships that strengthen how we collectively approach this work. 

3. What do you wish others, especially academic researchers, understood better about your work? What key insights would you like to share?

I imagine many of you are familiar with the realities of the social sector in disaster and climate‑related work. Community‑based organizations provide critical, long‑term support well beyond the immediate response phase that may include offering psychological first aid, hosting wellness trainings, supporting social recovery, and creating spaces that help people reconnect and rebuild after an event.

These organizations are essential to community resilience, yet they often operate with limited resources and are expected to attend to all crises. Climate-emergencies are now one of those crises that the social sector cannot turn away from, yet there is no sustained mechanism to lift them up in this work. My key message is that psychosocial recovery is necessary to prioritize within all recovery operations, not only infrastructural recovery. Sustained investment, wraparound support, and collaborative planning across community partners is necessary to achieve community-based mitigation, support long-term recovery, and enhance equity. 

4. What future developments in disaster resilience research are you most interested in or concerned about?

Researchers from across DRRN could help by providing deeper evidence and clearer insights into social and mental health impacts of disasters within BC, including projected outcomes and community-level consequences of specific types of events. This type of research informs how we prepare, where we build networks, what advocacy is needed, and what type of support mechanisms are most effective before, during, and after emergencies. DRRN researchers can also help evaluate community‑based approaches and co‑develop tools or frameworks that strengthen local capacity while centering the lived experiences of those most affected. In addition, leveraging global research, multi-national frameworks of practice, and learnings from partners across the world can support BC in advancing in these areas. Global research partnerships across disciplines are important to action that expands outside of western evidence and dominate knowledge hierarchies.

5. What future developments in disaster resilience research are you most interested in or concerned about?

I’m most interested in research that focuses on the social dimensions of disasters, including how transdisciplinary approaches can be leveraged to address persistent inequities. I am concerned about the ongoing consequences of top‑down decision‑making and siloed operations across disciplines. When systems operate in isolation, we lose the nuance and community insight that are vital for building climate-resilient communities. I hope to see more work that bridges sectors, strengthens community leadership, and ensures that resilience strategies are co‑created, socially focused, and grounded in real-world experiences. This includes further developing and actioning models that involve those disproportionately impacted in truly shape emergency planning and climate policy as decision‑makers with lived expertise. While, moving through these processes in an intentional way that adheres to Indigenous rights, data sovereignty, community protocols, and principles to do no harm.