Welcome to the REACH Lab

Research by the REACH Lab focuses on emotion regulation (e.g., how people manage their emotions) using a clinical-developmental lens. Primarily, our research studies focus on emotion regulation among emerging adults (e.g., ages 18-30 years old), and secondarily, among adolescents.  We are interested in learning about intrapersonal emotion regulation strategies or how young people regulate their emotions by themselves as well as interpersonally with others.  We look at how emotion regulation relates to an individual’s mental health, well-being, mattering, student success, and relationships, including among youth who are first generation (e.g., first in their families to attend post-secondary education in Canada) and those with experiences in child welfare. Currently, we are developing and evaluating a brief intervention that targets emotion regulation and well-being among young people.  One example of a current project is using ecological momentary assessment (EMA), aiming to understand (a) the ways emerging adults use ER on a daily basis, and, in turn, (b) identify how daily ER is associated with key outcomes salient to emerging adults, namely psychopathology, well-being and interpersonal resilience. Across all our projects, we use a community-based participatory action research approach, and central to our work is engaging youth from various backgrounds to guide our research questions, methods, findings, and knowledge sharing.   

Our Values

We are committed to promoting decolonization, equity, diversity, and inclusion in our lab. We support and engage students from diverse backgrounds, including those with various personal, academic and research experiences. Our involvement includes participation in initiatives such as the Department of Psychology’s Research Experiences to Support Diversity & Inclusion (REDI) program, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA), Black Scholars Program in Psychology, and the Faculty of Health Experiential Education Office. We also collaborate with the Co-operative Education Work and Integrated Learning Program (CEWIL) to support Black students. Our research aims to explore emotion regulation across different equity-deserving groups including first-generation students and those involved in child welfare.