When research meets community: IRSN voices

By Christen Kong, Health promoter & HEAL project coordinator

What happens when newcomer researchers become leaders in the very research shaping newcomer wellbeing?

In 2017, Access Alliance launched the Immigrant Researchers Support Network (IRSN) to help internationally educated researchers build Canadian experience, professional networks, and confidence as they continue their careers in Canada. Through mentorship, training, peer support, and employment connections, IRSN supports unemployed and underemployed newcomer researchers and evaluators while centering newcomer leadership and lived experience.

Fast-forward a few years, and IRSN members are making a meaningful impact at Access Alliance. Through funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Hubs of Expressive Arts for Life (HEAL) Project explored how expressive arts programs can support newcomer women’s mental health and wellbeing. Recognizing the value of lived experience and newcomer leadership, IRSN members were contract hired to support and lead the project’s research and evaluation activities.

Four IRSN Fellows: Oeishi Farquzzaman (Year 1), Shangjucta Das Pooja (Year 2), Shruthi Anna Thomas (Year 3), and Jasmine Sidhu (Year 4), played key roles in implementing evaluation tools, collecting and analyzing data, conducting validation meetings, and attending program sessions alongside participants and facilitators. Their work extended beyond research coordination; it involved building relationships, witnessing community healing, and helping shape culturally responsive approaches to wellbeing.

This article brings together their reflections on research, creativity, community engagement, and the importance of newcomer-led approaches to health and wellbeing.

Why is the project important to you and/or newcomer communities?

“Many underserved newcomer women are not comfortable sharing their traumatic stories of domestic violence, the program gave them a safe and respectful space to share without fear or judgment”

– Pooja

“The project addresses gaps in how newcomer communities experiencing gender-based domestic violence are supported. Too often, services do not reflect people’s cultural contexts, language needs, or lived experiences. It recognizes participants as individuals with knowledge, creativity, and agency, rather than passive recipients of care.”

- Sidhu

“I was able to witness the cross-sectoral partnerships developed through the project, and in a landscape often fragmented by siloed funding streams, HEAL could support cohesion. People’s identities and needs do not neatly follow sectoral funding categories, and this project demonstrated the value of integrated systems of support for newcomer communities. On a personal level, the project’s focus on self-efficacy and mental well-being has been transformative. Reading Bandura’s work on self-efficacy, I now approach my own experiences recognizing that mental well-being and self-efficacy are not destinations but ongoing processes.”

- Thomas

What were the personal and professional learnings from your fellowship experience?

“Personally, I learned to trust lived experience as a source of knowledge. Professionally, I gained skills in trauma-informed engagement, community based participatory action research, and facilitation. I learned how to listen deeply, design culturally sensitive activities, and work in a team that values compassion alongside outcomes.”

- Pooja

“Personally, the fellowship deepened my understanding of the connection between artistic expression and mental well-being. I also gained a clearer picture of the support systems available to newcomer communities, particularly for women with experiences of violence in their lives. The exposure to social prescribing as a concept is another aspect that I appreciate. Professionally, the fellowship provided invaluable experience in real-time program evaluation and adaptive facilitation. I learned that effective research and programming require flexibility, attentiveness, and humility.”

- Thomas

“One of my biggest learning was the importance of centering the process over product. In academic and clinical space, there is often a focus on outcomes and measurable change. I learned to value the relational and process-oriented aspects of healing, where small moments of connection, expression, and safety are just as meaningful as measurable outcomes. I also learnt how structural factors such as immigration status, housing insecurity, and systemic barriers intersect with experiences of violence.”

- Sidhu

What is a takeaway from this project that will stick with you?

“Healing is not only clinical- but it can also happen through art, storytelling, and shared presence. Communities already hold wisdom; our role is to create spaces where that wisdom can be expressed.”

- Pooja

“A key takeaway that will stay with me is that healing can take forms that are not always immediately visible, measurable or easily defined within traditional frameworks. I will also carry forward the importance of advocating for the recognition, sustainability, and integration of art-based approaches into broader systems of care over time.”

- Sidhu

“The power of interdisciplinary collaboration. This project brought together professionals and organizations from health, social work, mental health, settlement services, legal services, expressive arts, and the GBV sector. Watching these diverse sectors unite around a shared goal demonstrated how transformative collaborative work can be.”

- Thomas

Expanding knowledge through HEAL

While the HEAL Fellows came into the project with strong research experience, much of their understanding of arts-based practice was learned through the process itself. Over time, many began to see how the arts could deepen connection, empathy, and community engagement in ways traditional research approaches often cannot. Pooja reflected that engaging in the arts helped her “bring more empathy and creativity into my work with children and newcomer families, focusing on listening first and building connection.” Through the project, the arts became a way to humanize research and mental health resources by grounding them in lived experience, emotion, and creativity.

For some Fellows, this learning also extended into their personal lives. Thomas shared, “I now intentionally engage with the arts and cultural life of the cities I live in. Participating in community and artistic events whether attending festivals or observing public art has become a conscious practice.” These experiences demonstrate how arts engagement not only shaped their professional approaches, but also influenced how they connect with community, wellbeing, and everyday life.

Gratitude to the dedication and heart the HEAL fellows have invested to help contribute to the growing evidence of art-based practice for healing and sustaining more healthier communities.

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