The Sense Maker

Eunica felt happy to reunite with her mom and sad for the friends left behind. Mo & Fadia’s initial relief turned to humiliation, and later, anger. Mohammed and his family describe feeling both profoundly hopeful and deeply worried, at the same time. As newcomers trade in the familiar for the unfamiliar, they recount gains coupled with losses. They are physically safe. And yet life is no longer as full of the people and places, tastes and sounds, rituals and celebrations that breed vibrancy and intimacy. Too often, the transition between there and here can render life a little greyer, a little duller, a little more muted, and a lot less full.

We’re a partnership between two established non-profits (North York Community House in Toronto, O.N. and Options Community Services in Surrey, B.C.), a social design organization (InWithForward) and a big government agency (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada).

How might we use what we learned to prompt change? Our goal isn’t to publish a research report. Our aim is to use the research to brainstorm ideas for what could be. We invite you to read the pages that follow with a generative lens so that by the end you’ll be ready to co-create with us, using our board game Elevate. We are not seeking one magic bullet solution. Emotional ambivalence isn’t a singular problem to be solved, but a constellation of experiences to be acknowledged and integrated into everyday life.