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2025/2026 International Recovery & Citizenship Collective Seminar Series

January 16, 2026

In December 2025, the International Recovery and Citizenship Collective (IRCC) launched the free Seminar Series, which brings together a dynamic global community of healthcare providers, persons with lived and living experience, advocates, researchers, community members, and other key stakeholders. As a worldwide collaborative, the IRCC fosters bidirectional learning and the exchange of innovations in policy, service delivery, workforce development, and systems transformation to promote a holistic overview of recovery, citizenship, and community inclusion.

The hybrid seminar series is designed to explore the transformative power of participatory processes, co-design, and collective action in reshaping mental health, addiction, physical health, and disability systems worldwide. We aim to broaden understanding of recovery and citizenship as a holistic approach encompassing all aspects of life, including social, physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. This series presents interconnected lenses of recovery, citizenship, and community engagement. The seminar will highlight practices that co-create a sense of belonging, meaningful lives, and full social inclusion. Participants will reflect on how their holistic experiences have transformed their lives, fostering a deeper understanding of the Five Rs of Citizenship and their impact on their personal well-being, family, workplace, social relationships, and community.

Rooted in advocacy and informed by both local and global perspectives, we will examine how recovery and citizenship have evolved across different cultures and contexts, drawing on personal experiences. We will also explore how these concepts can continue to guide mutual responsibility, acceptance, and reconnection with core values, thereby enhancing the quality of life. Together, we will strengthen our shared commitments and explore how community-based, culturally responsive, lived-experience, and person-centered approaches can foster sustainable change across personal, communal, national, and international settings.

Co-Creating a Sense of Belonging in Illness and Disability: A holistic worldview experience through the Five Rs of Citizenship

The 20205/2026 International Recovery & Citizenship Collective seminar series: Co-Creating a Sense of Belonging in Illness and Disability: A holistic worldview experience through the Five Rs of CitizenshipSeminar 1: Co-Creating a Sense of Belonging in Illness and Disability:A holistic worldview experience through the Five Rs of CitizenshipPresented by: Professor Luigi Gariglio, University of Turin, a faculty member in a joint PhD program in Sociology and the Universities of Milan and Turin

“I Am Because We Are”: Ubuntu (Obuntubulamu) as a Philosophical, Pedagogical and Methodological Framework for Belonging and Transformative Education in Health

IRCC Seminar Series 3: “I Am Because We Are”: Ubuntu (Obuntubulamu) as a Philosophical, Pedagogical and Methodological Framework for Belonging and Transformative Education in Health

Presenters: Irene Bisasso Home and Débora Santos

Seminar Overview: This session explores the concept of Ubuntu (Obuntubulamu), an African philosophy that emphasizes interconnectedness, lived experiences, community, and mutual care for all. As a philosophical, pedagogical, and methodological framework, it provides profound insights into the principles of belonging and collective well-being. This approach aims to cultivate a holistic perspective on education that empowers individuals and communities and facilitates transformative changes in health practices and outcomes.

Centering Lived Experience to Advance Employment for People with Psychiatric Disabilities

IRCC Seminar Series 2: Centering Lived Experience to Advance Employment for People with Psychiatric Disabilities

Presenters: Maria O’Connell, Mark Costa, Megan Evans, Sai Snigdha Talluri, and Elizabeth Brisola

Seminar Overview: The purpose of this presentation is to highlight collaboration models in

which people with psychiatric disabilities serve as co-researchers, advisors, and decision makers. Through co-design processes, the presentation will discuss research that broadens conventional notions of employment readiness and success and centers on whole-person wellbeing.

IRCC Seminar Series: Co-Creating A Sense of Belonging in Illness & Disability

Seminar Series 4: Recovery Citizenship On the Way Boardgame: from Concept to Play

Presenters: Carrie Chau, Clarice Tam, Erin So, and Leona Chan

Seminar Overview: Join us for an engaging session introducing the innovative board game Recovering Citizenship On the Way, developed by Richmond Fellowship of Hong Kong (RFHK) in coproduction with people with lived experience, their loved ones, and staff. This bilingual game

illuminates the core values of Citizens Project, meticulously adapted to Chinese cultural

contexts, through local recovery stories that guide players to explore their strengths, choices, 5Rs, and belonging. Our presenters will share insights into the research and design process behind the game. Come join us for a live demo and experience this meaningful tool firsthand. We look forward to welcoming you!

Developing a sense of school belonging: experiences of children with albinism in Malawi

Presenter: Elita Chamdimba, PhD

Overview: This seminar draws on a mixed theoretical framework to examine the educational experiences of children with albinism in Malawi. The framework integrates intersectionality, Umunthu (African philosophy), and anti-othering within a social-ecological model to illuminate the layered systemic and structural barriers that children with albinism navigate as they develop a sense of belonging. A participatory research approach was employed, using arts-based methods—specifically drawing and poetic inquiry—to generate data in the central and southern regions of Malawi. The findings highlight both resilience and resistance, withstrategies such as peer support and teachers’ street-level bureaucracy emerging as key sources of support, especially within mainstream school settings.

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