About Cynthia

Meet author, speaker & mentor, Cynthia Hamilton Urquhart

2019 WOI Unsung Hero Award

2021 Contributing Author of #1 Amazon Best Selling Book

Sharing my life story is an opportunity for me to give you hope, and let you know you are not alone. There is so much healing with connection and community. Let this be a first step!

I am a retired police officer, mental health advocate, writer, speaker, and mentor, diagnosed with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) 7 years ago, 2 years after I retired.

My experience as a First Responder, having served over 25 years in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and my life journey provides me with a powerful and unique insight into the world of trauma and mental health.

Adopted as an infant, I grew up with a blind, learning-disabled brother, who we lost to cancer two years ago. It also took my mother when I was only twenty, and years later, I stood by my husband as he went through and survived his own cancer journey. Divorced with two young children, I remarried creating a blended family with five children, and am a sexual assault survivor. I was diagnosed with a rare and life-threatening genetic disorder called Loeys-Dietz Syndrome (LDS) in 2009, as was my youngest son. Six months after diagnosis, I required, and underwent, urgent open heart surgery.

Being the wife of a First Responder with C-PTSD, mother, grandmother, sister and friend to many. How does this all work?

I’ll be the first to say I was defensive, scared, and intimidated by my Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder diagnosis. I thought I was weak and had failed. Failed myself, my family and my colleagues.

I wondered how a wife and partner do PTSD together. I wondered what a mother and grandmother with PTSD looks like? I had so many questions and didn’t know what to expect.

What I now know is that my diagnosis was a gift. For the first time in my life, I had to focus on me, take time for me, get to know me. It is as simple and as complicated as that.

It would be wonderful to have you join me on my journey.

Personal Life

  • My hometown is Fredericton, New Brunswick.
  • I have a Sociology degree from the University of New Brunswick.
  • All of my university essays were typed on a 1920s Underwood Typewriter.
  • My sister is 17 years older than me.
  • When I remarried 25 years ago, my husband and I created a blended family of 5 children, ranging in age from 4 to 16 years old.
  • My husband was also an RCMP member, having served over 35 years.
  • I moved 9 times and lived in 6 different provinces.
  • Diagnosed with Loey’s-Dietz Syndrome in 2009, I had open-heart surgery and have had to learn how to live with this rare and life-threatening connective tissue disorder.
  • Animals, the ocean and nature; red wine and chocolate; singing and music are some of my favourite things.

Professional Life

  • I joined the RCMP in 1985, only 11 years after women were accepted into the organization.
  • There were 32 women in our Troop. We all lived in one huge dorm for 6 months of training. We were not permitted to have mixed Troops like they do today.
  • The women’s formal uniform, also known as the “Red Serge” consisted of a white polyester turtleneck, navy skirt, pantyhose, red jacket, pillbox hat and black pumps. We carried our revolvers and handcuffs in our purse.
  • Our duty belts consisted of a set of handcuffs, a Smith and Wesson revolver containing 6 bullets and two speed loaders carrying 6 bullets each.
  • Bullet proof vests were not standard issue.
  • We did not have “partners” but rather patrolled alone in our vehicles.
  • We did not fall under the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations.
  • It was common to have only two members on night shift patrolling hundreds of kilometers.
  • At some detachments, women were not allowed to work without a male on shift.
  • My postings gave me the unique opportunity to police both rural and urban communities, while gaining a deeper understanding of the diverse cultures spread across the country.
Graduation Photo, 1986

Mental Health

  • I bring a multiplicity of perspectives to the PTSD conversation. This is a result of my spouse’s PTSD diagnosis in June of 2012 and my own diagnosis in January of 2013. This dual family diagnosis meant I was faced with a unique set of challenges in my roles as a first responder, spouse and parent.
  • I am a passionate mental health advocate and educator and have presented at the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research Conference in Toronto, The Sheldon Chumir Health Center – Trauma Workshop in Calgary, and most recently, to over 800 people at The First Responder Suicide Awareness Conference in Calgary.
  • My writing, a skill I discovered while undergoing treatment at the Operational Stress Injury Clinic in Calgary, allowed me to start releasing the pain I suffered during my years of service. My poems led me to New York Times bestselling author, Laura Munson and the Haven Writing Retreats, which Laura runs in Whitefish, Montana. Laura is currently working with me as I write my book on my PTSD journey.

“If you’re always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.”

Maya Angelou