About six  years into her career, Dimple began to feel the impact of this failure to address the human factors of those in service to humanity. At the time, there was virtually no post-trauma therapy for staff in these sectors and humanitarians were simply expected to “tough it out” until they no longer could. The stigma and shame around mental health meant that many humanitarians, who were regularly exposed to traumatic events and danger, long working hours, stress, frequent and often back-to-back deployments abroad, a lack of transparency in the organization. and toxic work environments were at high risk of vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, burnout, and anxiety.

When their work became politicized, the fury, shame, grief, and despair Dimple and her colleagues were feeling was compounded by requests to take actions in conflict with their own deeply held moral codes, values, and beliefs; and Dimple could no longer stand by quietly. She began educating the workforce about the impacts of stress, crisis, trauma and moral injury, acknowledging and normalizing their experiences, and providing them with real-time coping strategies. It was not long before she realized that in order to effect meaningful and lasting culture change, she’d need leaders who not only recognized the occupational realities of the work, but also had the tools and compassion to support themselves and their people. With that in mind, in 2019 Dimple developed and launched the Daring Leaders Project (DLP), the first mindfulness-based leadership development program of its kind within the federal government. Her vision and leadership on these efforts earned her Director’s awards for Innovator of the Year and the Pillar of Leadership.