Mercedes Sobers’s dissertation examines racial disparities in the mental health and mental health service use of Black people in Ontario, revealing how Black communities experience some of the poorest outcomes and face persistent barriers to care. Analyzing these data was both intellectually demanding and emotionally taxing, underscoring how deficit-focused research can unintentionally reinforce the inequities it seeks to address.
In this Knowledge Café session, Mercedes shares how the Black Joy Art Initiative emerged as a counterbalance: a strengths-based, arts-informed project that returns findings to the community in accessible and celebratory ways. Rather than focusing only on gaps and risk, the initiative highlights joy, resilience, and the everyday practices that sustain wellness in Black communities. Through photography and video recorded conversations, it explored three guiding questions: What does mental wellness mean to Black communities? What practices already foster mental health? How can mental health be strengthened within the Black community? The project culminated in a public art exhibit that invited hundreds of visitors to engage with the research through images, stories, and reflection. By presenting academic findings alongside community voices, the exhibit created a space where scholarship, art, and lived experience meet. Demonstrating how research can be shared back in ways that honor and energize the people it represents.
Participants will gain insight into:
- Designing research that uplifts rather than pathologizes marginalized communities.
- Creative approaches to sharing findings that resonate beyond academia.
- Strategies for sustaining emotionally challenging work while centering joy, resilience, and community wisdom.
This session invites anyone interested in public health, community-engaged research, or art as a tool for social change to imagine how evidence and creativity can come together to reimagine mental health and wellbeing.
*Please note: this is on online event. Zoom details will be sent out closer to the session*
About the speaker
Mercedes Sobers (she/her) is a PhD candidate in Epidemiology at the University of Toronto studying Black mental health service use in Canada. A Connaught, School of Cities, and Inlight Fellow, she integrates data-driven research with community engagement to address systemic health barriers. Founder of the Black Joy Art Initiative and a decade-long CAMH researcher, she advances health equity through rigorous evaluation and community-informed solutions promoting Black wellness and resilience.
You can learn more about Mercedes’s Black Joy Art Project here.
