I study belonging across the human lifespan, following how it develops and is sustained from childhood through to adulthood, in work, family, and life.

In the workplace

Organisations are increasingly using the logic of the Integrative Framework of Belonging to understand how workplace environments shape employee experience. An example is the McLean & Company research report Unlocking belonging in the workplace (https://hr.mcleanco.com/research/ss/unlocking-belonging-in-the-workplace), which applies principles consistent with the four antecedents to show how job role design, social opportunity structures, individual agency, and perceptions of psychological safety interact to support or undermine belonging at work.

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Practice pieces for managers and HR leaders (e.g., California Management Review’s practitioner piece “The Basics of Belonging” draws on the 2021 framework to brief executives and MBAs on implementation).

Univesity Adoption

The Integrative Framework of Belonging has been used to inform university-level policy design and monitoring.

At Universitas Negeri Semarang, the framework guided institutional approaches to measuring student belonging and wellbeing and was used to support data-informed policy decisions at scale. 

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Northeastern University’s institutional belonging resources; and Missouri Positive Behaviour Interventions and Supports (PBIS) training materials. The Missouri SW-PBS Summer Institute materials include dedicated sessions on “Creating Spaces of Belonging for Students and Staff,” embedding belonging practices within statewide behaviour support training. The University of Adelaide’s Student Sense of Belonging and Transition guide cites the 2021 framework to shape institutional supports for commencing students. 

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​Curricular use includes a state-funded OpenOregon open-education textbook; Oregon’s publicly funded instructional frameworks, which include a “Student Belonging” strand used by districts and teacher educators, signposting belonging as foundational to early literacy.

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University wellbeing units and student support services have adopted the framework to guide belonging initiatives. Examples include public university resources that translate the four antecedents into practical guidance for students and staff.

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University of Iowa Wellbeing (2022). Increasing your feelings of belonging requires active participation.https://wellbeing.uiowa.edu/news/2022/09/increasing-your-feelings-belonging-requires-active-participation

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At Monash Unviersity, University Marketing, Admissions and Communications (UMAC), the Audience Experience team led by Tina Brunet: the Student Sense of Belonging and Transition — conceptual and practical material on belonging and student transition links to the four antecedents and higher education transition planning. In a presentation to the University of Adelaide https://www.adelaide.edu.au/learning/ua/media/2938/student-sense-of-belonging.pdf

In the Community

In community and settlement policy, four Local Immigration Partnerships (LIPs) and allied regional networks in Alberta adopted my Integrative Framework of Belonging (Allen et al., 2021) in 2022 to guide local planning for communities of 10,000–65,000 residents. Between 2023 and 2025, the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society (CCIS) structured newcomer needs assessments with 150+ participants around the framework. My role was to brief LIPs and CCIS on operationalisation, co-design survey constructs, and review tools so the framework’s domains were usable locally. Findings identified neighbourhood-belonging shortfalls (30% in Rocky View and Wheatland; 18% in Foothills), and directed investment to social connection, volunteering, and neighbour-to-neighbour initiatives. Participant feedback such as “knowing one’s neighbour plays a great role [in belonging]” and “volunteer and helping people [increases belonging]” was built into subsequent strategy and resourcing. CCIS then embedded the framework in the Little Book of LIP (described as “a go-to” consultation guide that centres newcomer belonging) as the recommended consultation model, sustaining use beyond the initial project and with the Medicine Hat LIP hosting and distributing the guide to partners.

Health & Counselling

​​Belogning in autoimmune health and functioning: 

https://www.youtube.com/c/AnnaHuysse

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The sense that you belonging somewhere

Cypress Counselling

https://cypresstherapyandcounseling.com/the-sense-that-you-belong-somewhere/#:~:text=According%20to%20psychology%20Today%2C%20belonging%20is%20a,Competencies%20*%20Opportunities%20*%20Motivations%20*%20Perceptions