Mental Resilience and Community Connections: A Case Study of Ukrainian Scholars’ Adaptation Experiences in Canada

Abstract

To read the full-text Open Access article and download the PDFs, please visit our Issue portal at Paradigm (Walter de Gruyter):  https://reference-global.com/article/10.56508/mhgcj.v9i1.364 

Introduction: War and natural disasters have forced many people to migrate, requiring considerable adaptation of the migrants and the communities which receive them.

Purpose: This case study explores the contributors to mental resilience for Ukrainian scholars who fled Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine taking up temporary appointments at the University of Manitoba through supports through CUAET and Scholar-at-Risk pathways.

Methodology: Grounded in appreciative inquiry, the study uses mixed qualitative sources. The empirical base includes the co-authors’ reflexive accounts as displaced scholars, informal conversations with scholar-peers, local media interviews, public social media posts, and institutional documents describing the University of Manitoba’s initiatives.

Results: Findings identify multiple intersecting obstacles and the ways that the scholars attempted to navigate around and through them. Psychological strain was widespread, shaped by guilt and worry for family and colleagues in Ukraine, children’s adaptation, and tensions around limited resources within newcomer networks. Identity negotiations often converged on an unresolved question about return or long-term settlement.

Conclusion: Key areas requiring enhanced newcomer support based on this group’s experiences, include additional and more flexible language training opportunities, professional mentorship, and supports for single parents. While the scholars experienced precarity alongside significant adaptive capacity, their longer-term outcomes remain contingent on the course of the war and on permanent residency policy of the country receiving them