Exploring how unprocessed grief affects racialized health-care workers
Working as a recreation therapist in long-term care during the COVID-19 pandemic was what drove Crystal-Jade (CJ) Cargill’s interest in understanding the impact of unprocessed grief on racialized health-care workers.
“My colleagues and I were faced with significant levels of stress, labour extraction, illness and loss that deeply impacted our mental health and well-being,” says the Recreation and Leisure Studies master’s thesis student.
“Given the climate and landscape of the COVID-19 pandemic and significant staff shortages, health-care workers were not provided with many opportunities to grieve and care for themselves.”
Cargill was inspired to understand the long-term effects of these working conditions on the body and the self. She focuses specifically on racialized workers and the complexity around their ability to grieve and express discomfort in western society and the pressure to leave cultural grieving rituals behind.
She examines the possibilities of using therapeutic landscapes — memorial gardens, community healing gardens — as potential sites for collective healing.
“My research is also a way for me to pay respects to the lineage of caring women that I come from. I have been deeply inspired by my great-grandmother, grandmother, mother, sisters and aunts who have provided and continue to provide care to their communities in world-changing and world-making ways,” she says.
Now a Future Scholar
Cargill recently received one of two international Future Scholars Awards by The Academy of Leisure Sciences (TALS). The award was presented in January at the TALS conference in New Orleans, where Cargill was recognized as a master’s student who intends to pursue a PhD in Recreation and Leisure Studies.
“At the conference, I met many wonderful scholars and graduate students who are just as passionate as I am. More than anything, it was such an honour to be in a space with people who believe in the possibilities of recreation and leisure studies research, and my ability to contribute to this vast field of knowledge,” she says.
During the conference, Future Scholars are paired with a mentor. Cargill was paired with Dr. Julie Son from the University of Idaho, who helped her to connect with potential PhD supervisors and fellow graduate students.
“It makes all the difference to be able to network and create meaningful relationships with scholars and students from all over the world. I am eternally grateful to TALS and to my supervisor, Dr. Heather Mair, for supporting my journey.”