For Christine Mayor, trauma is not just an individual experience, rather it is often produced by the very systems meant to provide care.
Mayor, an assistant professor in the U of M faculty of social work, was recently awarded the North American Drama Therapy Research Award for a second time — the first ever to do so — for her work in anti-carceral and abolitionist practices in the helping professions.
Mayor studies how racism and institutional practices shape experiences of trauma. She specifically focuses on challenging those systems and developing community-led alternatives grounded in justice and collective healing.
“I primarily research issues of trauma and traumatizing conditions, (anti-)racism, educational equity and the arts,” she explained. Additionally, several of her projects examine how anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism are embedded in schools, mental health services and social institutions — even those claiming to be “trauma-informed.”
Before entering academia, Mayor worked directly in the field, where she directed a trauma-centred K-12 program serving “low-income Black, Latinx and immigrant and refugee students.” She noted, “Most of my research questions stem from the challenges and issues that arose when doing this work in the field and/or with my ongoing relationships with organizations and communities who face systemic inequities.”
One of her current projects focused on community-led approaches to safety in Winnipeg. The study examined Community Safety Hosts (CSH), a program designed to support people who may be excluded from public spaces due to racism or stigma.
“In Winnipeg, many people have difficulty accessing public places like libraries, government service buildings and health care facilities when they experience racism or stigma — often pushed out by security,” she said.
CSH aims to offer an alternative to traditional security models. “Rather than securing spaces, they aim to secure relationships,” Mayor said. The program is grounded in wâhkôhtowin, a Cree and Métis worldview that emphasizes interconnectedness and collective responsibility.
“As part of their training, CSHs are taught through wâhkôhtowin […] that everyone is interconnected and related, making us all responsible for one another as kin,” she said. Mayor’s team analyzed hundreds of reports from CHS staff to understand how this approach is practiced in everyday interactions.
“Our findings show that CSHs embody wâhkôhtowin in seven interconnected ways,” she said. These include offering practical support and care, particularly for those who are marginalized or vulnerable.
For example, hosts offer practical support through small acts of care and provide guidance to those who are vulnerable, including youth and older adults. The most significant finding, however, was the value of time and listening to others’ stories. According to Mayor, these interactions often involved slowing down and building trust, an approach that contrasts sharply with traditional security practices.
Beyond individual projects, Mayor sees her work as part of a broader effort to shift how society understands trauma. “I hope that my research […] bring[s] attention to the ways in which suffering is created through traumatizing systems and conditions,” she said. Rather than focusing on changing individuals, meaningful solutions require systemic change in policy and practice, she added. By centring community voices and using creative, arts-based methods, Mayor aims to make research more accessible and responsive.
Looking ahead, she is beginning a new project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council examining “carceral logics” in helping professions (e.g. teachers, therapists, social workers, etc.) “By carceral logics, we mean the ways in which punishment-based ways of thinking and acting function to blame, stigmatize and even criminalize individual people,” Mayor explained. “Especially those who are Black, Indigenous, radicalized, disabled, unhoused, migrants, 2SLGBTQ+ or poor — rather than blaming bad systems.”
These logics, she explained, refer to punishment-based ways of thinking that blame and stigmatize individuals instead of addressing systemic issues. “In the ‘helping professions,’ this can look like control, surveillance and ‘behavioural management,’” Mayor said. The project will use focus groups and creative methods such as tableaux to explore how these practices are enacted and how they might be replaced with more supportive approaches.
Mayor’s research lab is called Creative Community Change. To learn more about her work, find her on Instagram @CCCResearch and for her latest SSHRC project, visit @abolitionist_enactments.
