A Falkland author is among a group of North Okanagan-Shuswap residents selected to receive a King Charles III Coronation Medal.
Matthew Heneghan said he feels a "supreme sense of gratitude" to have been chosen to receive the honour, which will be presented by North Okangan-Shuswap MP Mel Arnold at the Enderby Drill Hall on Friday, March 7.
Commemorating the King Charles III's coronation on May 6, 2023, the is awarded to individuals who have made a significant contribution to Canada, or to a particular province, territory, region or community of Canada, or have made an outstanding achievement abroad that brings credit to the nation.
Heneghan, who served Canada as a military medic, and as a civilian paramedic, endeavours to help others by sharing his own experiences with trauma, recovery and personal growth through his writing (including two books, A Medic's Mind and Woven in War) and with his podcast,
In August 2024, Heneghan received British Columbia's Medal of Good Citizenship for his dedication to mental health advocacy and community service. This latest honour comes from a nomination by his spouse, Sheena Russet.
"There are certain groups and members of Parliament that were given a certain number of medals to allot to people, and Sheena had reached out to our MP, Mel Arnold, with a letter detailing sort of who I am and the things that she is seeing me do," explained Heneghan."He then took that letter and wrote a letter of his own and nominated me for the medal. His nomination was approved along with 19 other recipients this Friday."
Heneghan said an ingrained drive to give back led to his past career choices and continues to guide his journey and the support he shares with others.
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"Learning to trust them and learning to trust in the process brought me to a place where I can take those lessons I learned and repurpose them香蕉视频直播� refurbish them so I can put them out in the world in a positive way," said Heneghan."That香蕉视频直播檚 really my whole goal and intent is to put things out there and hope that they land where they need to land.
"That's really all I香蕉视频直播檓 trying to do is just back to community, give back to people in a way that I have learned how to do now, because I can香蕉视频直播檛 do it in the way I was trained."
