“Thirty minutes before I was shot and kidnapped, I was sipping tea and laughing with a colleague.
Proper Support was founded by Steve Dennis after surviving a violent kidnapping and navigating years of post-incident neglect. His legal case set a precedent in the aid sector, proving gross negligence in how duty of care was managed. Most importantly, it highlighted the need for independent review of aid worker incidents, free from organizational bias, where an organization failed to understand risk. It also underscored that post-incident support must meet the needs of the injured, not to be constrained by internal policy or insurance limitations. Proper Support Trust is legally registered in Canada, but in practice operates as Proper Support in all our work and communications.
Since then, Proper Support has grown into a multidisciplinary team. We bring legal advocates, trauma therapists, recovery coaches, doctors, and insurance experts together to guide injured aid workers through recovery and resolution. Many of us have been in the field or beside those navigating trauma, which gives us an informed, compassionate, and no-nonsense approach to our work.