From Canary in the Coal Mine to Canary on the Front Line
The Essential Role of Highly Attuned Professionals in High-Stakes Fields
By Michelle Luken January 2025
In the early 20th century, coal miners relied on canaries to detect invisible dangers like carbon monoxide that posed a grave threat to their lives. The canary’s heightened sensitivity served as a early warning system, alerting miners to danger before it became lethal. These birds became not just critical for miners’ survival but symbols of vigilance, care, and the price of protecting others. In fact, when electronic carbon monoxide detectors began replacing canaries in the mines, many workers felt saddened to have lost a sense of comfort and companionship.
In many ways, highly attuned professionals working on the front lines of military service, healthcare, law enforcement and other high-stakes professions act as modern-day canaries in their fields.
Like canaries, highly attuned professionals are innately aware of subtle changes in their surroundings. Their deep processing, empathy, and sensitivity to both physical and emotional stimuli allow them to detect potential risks, identify otherwise unseen needs, and respond with intuition and care.
The Unique Role of Highly Attuned Professionals as Early Warning Systems
Highly attuned professionals often detect and respond to shifts in workplace dynamics, emotional undercurrents among colleagues or patients, and systemic stressors long before others might notice. For example:
Healthcare Workers
Highly attuned healthcare workers might pick up on a patient's nonverbal cues or subtle changes in their condition, allowing for early intervention or prevention of medical complications. Their response to an increased patient caseload can also serve as an indication to leaders within their organization that the current pace is not sustainable and additional support is needed.
Military Service Members
Highly attuned service members’ heightened situational awareness allows them to quickly identify and deeply process details, which are desirable attributes of military service members serving in any capacity. Military leaders with these traits may be particularly adept at assessing and managing risks in the military decision-making process.
Law Enforcement Officers
Highly attuned law enforcement officers and first responders might intuitively sense and respond to subtle changes in the tone of voice or body language of criminal suspects, aiding in de-escalation of tense situations. They may also pick up on changes in the wellbeing of their partner or colleagues, signaling the need for support.
Challenges of Highly Attuned Professionals
This heightened sensitivity, much like the canary’s, is a gift until it isn’t. When the environment becomes too toxic, either physically or emotionally, highly attuned professionals may feel the effects more intensely than their peers. If unacknowledged or unsupported, this can lead to overwhelm, burnout, or even withdrawal. Just as the canaries were vital to miners’ safety but vulnerable to the dangers they signaled, highly attuned front line workers are often more impacted by cultural climate and are more likely to carry the weight of their team and organization.
When environments are suboptimal (physically, culturally, emotionally), they may absorb the stress, trauma, and emotional toll of their jobs to the point of personal detriment. This is a particular concern in the early stage of their careers when some highly attuned front line workers may be more focused on serving those in need than caring for themselves. Costs of serving as an early warning detection system can include:
Emotional Exhaustion
The deep processing and empathy that make highly attuned professionals such effective team members can also leave them feeling drained.
Burnout
Constant exposure to high-stress situations without adequate time for recovery can push highly attuned professionals toward burnout faster than their less-sensitive counterparts.
Under-appreciation
Like the miners who took their canaries for granted until they were gone, teams and organizations can overlook the contributions of highly attuned professionals until their absence reveals their importance.
Support for Modern-Day Canaries
Just as the coal mining industry realized the need for a more humane and sustainable strategy for early warning detection, organizations must be concerned with how they can help highly attuned professionals serve and thrive, rather than simply survive.
The answer lies in recognizing their value, fostering healthy environments, and providing resources to help them flourish.
I can’t stress enough that most highly attuned professionals - especially those who have sworn an oath to serve others - are not likely to request, let alone expect, additional resources or “special treatment.” They’re often focused more on caring and advocating for others.
Practical Strategies
While these high-stakes fields and industries are not required to make accommodations for these workers, organizations that claim to put their “people first” have no better opportunity to prove it than to protect the health and wellbeing of their highly attuned professionals – if for no other reason than to optimize their HSPs’ force multiplying capabilities and mission success.
Organizations, leaders, and colleagues can support highly attuned professionals in the following ways:
Lean in: Learn more about and get curious about the unique qualities of highly attuned people. See below for a list of books and other educational resources.
Prioritize organizational culture: Foster environments where adaptability and emotional intelligence are valued and rewarded as much as productivity and measurable outcomes.
Be mindful of the “curse of competence”: Avoid disproportionately tasking these often high performers with responsibilities others could or should be assigned.
Acknowledge intuition: Listen closely to potential concerns and opportunities identified by highly attuned professionals - their intuition and keen awareness of the world around them can prove invaluable.
Promote open communication: Create a culture where all team members feel empowered to express their challenges and seek support.
If you are a highly attuned person working in a high-stakes fields, there are many resources at your disposal:
Reading & Listening
As far as I know, Canary & Willow is the first and only blog focusing on highly attuned people working in high-stakes fields. Subscribe to my free newsletter below to get practical strategies, blog posts, and thought leadership articles delivered directly to your inbox.
There are many books, blogs, and podcast episodes pertaining to highly sensitive persons (HSPs) who comprise one type of high attunement. Here are some of my favorites:
Several foundational books and blog posts by Dr. Elaine Aron and colleagues
Research-based articles written by various authors on Sensitive Refuge, the world’s largest website for highly sensitive people
This Good Life Project podcast episode with Dr. Elaine Aron
Online Courses
If you’re someone who enjoys an audiovisual and structured but self-paced approach to learning and growing, I invite you to keep an eye out for my online course, which is coming soon. In the course, I walk you through how to:
Discover and understand how you became highly attuned.
Reflect on your challenges and learn how to mitigate them.
Identify your strengths and learn how to leverage them.
Learn how to express your unique traits and needs to others.
Find strength and support in community.
Coaches and Counselors
If you tend to learn and grow best with a more individualized, conversational approach, or if you need/want external accountability, consider finding a coach or counselor who specializes in high sensitivity.
I provide coaching and consultation through Canary & Willow and would love to connect to see if we would be a good fit.
Therapy
High sensitivity is not a clinical disorder - it is a genetic trait found in approximately 20% of the population. However, therapy offers a great space for some highly attuned people to externally process their deep thoughts and rich inner world.
While I am an occupational therapist (OT) by training, I do not offer clinical OT services through Canary & Willow.
There are plenty of therapists (and some medical providers) who are knowledgable about high sensitivity. Feel free to check out this directory!
Take the Next Step
Subscribe to my free newsletter below to receive practical strategies and updates, including when the next online course becomes available!
If you are a highly attuned person working in a high-stakes field, or know someone who is, please reach out and tell me about yourself!
If you are a leader or organization, inquire about services designed to help you leverage the force-multiplying capabilities and support the needs of your highly attuned team members!
