Students – CSL Professors Details

An Associate Professor in the Occupational Therapy Program at the University of Ottawa, Rachel Thibeault combines a background in occupational therapy and psychology, as well as having developed an expertise in Community-Based Rehabilitation. Her research focuses mainly on community-driven, sustainable models of development for people with disabilities, especially in hard-to-access settings such as war zones, leprosy communities and remote areas. Among other places, she has worked in the High Arctic, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Laos, Lebanon, Mali, Nicaragua, and Sierra Leone. Her current projects in Zambia address the needs of orphans and people with disabilities living with HIV/AIDS. She works from a social justice perspective that fosters community participation at all levels of decision-making. This approach goes beyond strict rehabilitation measures and builds on the principles of sustainable livelihoods, service integration and social inclusion, while pursuing the greater goal of rebuilding civil society.