Tightrope

How do you stay upright when the very system you swore to uphold begins to shake beneath your feet?

In Tightrope, retired Deputy Chief Constable Jennifer Hyland offers a rare and unflinching look behind the badge. Through raw honesty and hard-won wisdom, she charts her twenty-six-year journey through Canadian policing—rising from a young recruit to one of the highest-ranking women in the profession—all while walking the fragile line between duty and despair, strength and vulnerability, silence and truth.
But this is more than a story about crime scenes and crisis calls. It’s about the invisible injuries: the quiet corrosion of identity from institutional politics, power struggles, and a culture that too often punishes authenticity. Diagnosed with PTSD and multiple sclerosis, Hyland came face-to-face with her breaking point—and chose not to shatter. Instead, she found a way forward that honoured both the work and her humanity.
Tightrope is a reckoning and a rallying cry. It’s for everyone who has walked a difficult path, for those wearing a uniform, those just entering policing, and those who’ve left—wondering if they were the only ones who struggled. It’s a mirror, a lifeline, and an invitation to heal. Because the truth is, you’re not alone—and there is strength, and even hope, on the other side of the storm.