“It’s the small stuff you can’t see”: Stories of mental wellness, community, and leisure told by new arrivants of colour to a mid-sized, South-Western Ontario city

Abstract

ABSTRACT There is a tendency for new arrivants to experience a decrease in self-reported mental health as they spend more time in their new country of settlement. We wanted to discern whether new arrivants of colour (<10 years) to a mid-sized Ontario city had a similar story. With the knowing that positive and inclusive leisure experiences can buffer stressors for individuals, this research sought to hear about the mental well-being of new arrivants (between the ages 18–64) and the ways leisure enhances or detracts from their perceived mental well-being. Through photo elicitation qualitative interviews with five new arrivants contextualized existing literature in this area and described experiences of isolation, their transition experience, social stress and support, and building social capital through bridging and bonding. From our analysis, a novel finding we called, ”a perception of necessity for leisure” was a novel contribution to the new arrivant leisure literature.