Project Overview

In the era of climate change-related disasters and a globally disruptive pandemic, people worldwide are grappling with the question of how to foster resilience. In my PhD, I study the topic of resilience based on my perspectives as an occupational therapist and a Métis researcher collaborating with a First Nations-led health and research organization. There are three studies in my PhD, each examining resilience from a different standpoint. The first project focuses on how wildfires in northern British Columbia have affected Dakelh First Nations communities in the region. Through interviews, I explore stories of evacuation, living under severe wildfire smoke, and community rebuilding once the fire season is over. The stories I learn will be used to improve the wildfire response practices at my research partner organization. In my second project, I look at daily life experiences during the first year of COVID-19 among people who had previously recovered from a stroke. I hope to demonstrate how participants’ journeys of stroke recovery helped them to build resilience skills that were useful in the face of pandemic-related disruptions. In my third project, I investigate resilience in occupational therapy—a healthcare profession that supports people who are struggling with their daily activities (e.g., cooking, shopping, attending school). Using a structured process of reading and summarizing previous research called scoping review, my goal is to highlight how resilience is at the heart of the work occupational therapists do with their patients. At the end of all three projects, I will create a Métis flower beadwork mosaic titled “Garden of Resilience” that will show three different types of flowers representing each project growing together in a garden. I hope that visitors to my garden (i.e., people reading my research) will learn something about how they can become more resilient in their own lives.

Principal Investigator

Justin Turner , University of British Columbia

Partners and Donors