Research team

At the time of this study, the research team was based in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, University of Waterloo.

Alison Pedlar

Distinguished Professor Emerita, Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, University of Waterloo.

Alison Pedlar, with broad applied research and practical experience, worked on issues related to incarcerated women, disability, aging, and leisure and recreation services in Canada. Her teaching and research activity focused on social policy, planning and development of human services. Much of her work was conducted within a participatory and collaborative research framework, concerned with community development and bridging theory and practice.

Susan Arai

Associate Professor, Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, Applied Health Sciences, University of Waterloo.

Susan Arai’s research interests focus on social justice, the creation of intentional communities, and negotiations of difference (racial, queer, gender, [dis]ability), marginalization, and inclusion in leisure contexts. Susan is a practicing psychotherapist and her research interests also focus on mindfulness; trauma, mental health, and healing through leisure; therapeutic relationships; and therapeutic recreation practices. Susan has also worked with healthy communities initiatives, social planning councils, disability organizations, community health centres, and hospitals in Ontario. 

Susan, along with colleague, Karen Gallant, developed the Assessment of Re-integration into Community for Women © (ARC-W), Arai, S., and Gallant, K. (2008), Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, University of Waterloo - a tool used by community organization, Community Justice Initiatives, in supporting women returning to the community after incarceration.

Felice Yuen

Associate Professor, Applied Human Sciences, Concordia University.

Felice Yuen’s research examines leisure as a context for community development, healing, and social justice. She often employs arts-based methods (e.g., drawings, body mapping, photography, and poetry) for data collection and representation. Journey Women is an action research project with Aboriginal women, which used body mapping to explore healing.

Darla Fortune

Assistant Professor, Applied Human Sciences, Concordia University.

Darla Fortune is committed to community-engaged research with a focus on social justice that is relevant to people most directly affected by the findings. The inclusion of marginalized individuals is a central theme in her research. For her dissertation Darla combined participatory action research with anti-oppressive theories to create a space where women entering the community after incarceration could express experiences of difference and inclusion. Darla’s post-doctoral research was a participatory action research project aimed at culture change in long-term care settings.