Media releases

• Brock experts available to talk mental health research

  Monday, January 23, 2023 | By Brock University

  EXPERT ADVISORY: 23 January 2023 – R0004

  With conversations surrounding mental health amplified as Bell Let’s Talk Day nears, Brock University researchers whose work lies in this realm are available to share their expertise.

  Associate Professor of Health Sciences Pauli Gardner studies the relationship between mindfulness and positive mental health among university students.

  Gardner has also created an intergenerational service-learning project called Through Their Eyes that matches Brock students with older adults to study features that make a community age-friendly. The relationships formed through the project have been shown to boost the mental health of both the student and senior participants.

  Research by Child and Youth Studies Professor Voula Marinos, Director of Brock’s new Forensic Psychology and Criminal Justice program, focuses on young people with developmental disabilities and mental illness, and how their needs are addressed within Canada’s youth justice system.

  Marinos’ research also looks at gaps that exist within the forensic mental health system and legal verdicts that deem adults “not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder.”

  Associate Professor of Health Sciences Karen Patte leads a project, funded by a SickKids-Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigator Grant, examining ongoing and sustained impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic response — particularly related to school closures and different learning modes and protocols — on the mental health of Canadian adolescents over time.

  Associate Professor of Child and Youth Studies Danielle Sirianni Molnar is working to understand risk and resilience factors in health and well-being, with a focus on perfectionism in children and youth.

  As part of that work, Sirianni Molnar, Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Adjustment and Well-Being in Children and Youth, is exploring how perfectionism is related to mental and physical health in adolescents, parents and educators.

  With a part-time appointment in the Azrieli Adult Neurodevelopmental Centre at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Associate Professor of Applied Disability Studies Kendra Thomson’s research involves employees in the developmental services sector who work with people with intellectual and development disabilities.

  Thomson is studying a virtual acceptance and commitment training-based model intended to support the well-being of those direct support professionals in the sector.

  Brock University Associate Professor of Health Sciences Pauli Gardner, Child and Youth Studies Professor Voula Marinos, Associate Professor of Health Sciences Karen Patte, Associate Professor of Child and Youth Studies Danielle Sirianni Molnar and Associate Professor of Applied Disability Studies Kendra Thomson are available for media interviews about their respective work.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Doug Hunt, Communications and Media Relations Specialist, Brock University dhunt2@brocku.ca or 905-941-6209

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  Categories: Media releases

• Brock expert discusses NHL player’s Pride night boycott

  Wednesday, January 18, 2023 | By Brock University

  EXPERT ADVISORY: 18 January 2023 – R0003

  A Brock University expert says Philadelphia Flyers defenceman Ivan Provorov’s refusal to take part in the team’s annual LGBTQ+ Pride night celebration raises questions about the influence players have over team- and league-wide initiatives.

  While Provorov cited his religion as the reason he did not take part in the Jan. 17 celebration, Assistant Professor of Sport Management Taylor McKee said there were deeper issues involved.

  “The framing of this issue as one of religious expression is a false dichotomy, largely because such freedoms do not exempt any one individual from the repercussions of that expression,” McKee said. “Perhaps the most troubling aspect of these events is not Provorov’s refusal. Instead, it is the Flyers’ inaction when this expression conflicted with the stated goals of the team and organization that is most disconcerting. As a result, he has already been reframed as a martyr in certain comment sections and opinion pieces, despite the lack of formal punishment.”

  In spite of Provorov’s boycott, McKee said the individual actions of players can also make a positive difference when attempting to make their sports more inclusive.

  “When it comes to further progress regarding inclusivity, perhaps one barrier many professional sports teams face is a lack of genuine understanding regarding the marginalized communities being served by many professional sport initiatives,” he said. “Empathetic relationships to these communities can be cultivated if players, including the many Flyers players who wore Pride-themed warmup shirts and met with 50 members of the local LGBTQ+ community, are willing to actually engage with the issues promoted by teams.”

  With the actions of players sometimes indistinguishable from team initiatives, McKee said players have more power than ever to promote their own interests.

  “We are starting to understand players as not simply league employees, but as partners in growing the game,” he said. “Similarly, they also have the agency to undercut any league-wide initiatives through their own actions or stated rebuttals. This new era, aptly entitled the ‘player empowerment movement,’ endows any individual player’s actions with significantly more meaning than in previous eras of professional sport.”

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Doug Hunt, Communications and Media Relations Specialist, Brock University dhunt2@brocku.ca or 905-941-6209

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  Categories: Media releases