Snapshot

CERIC — the Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling

by Riz Ibrahim

CERIC — the Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling — is a national charitable organization whose mission is to encourage and provide education and research programs related to the development, analysis and assessment of the current counselling and career development theories and practices in Canada. The CERIC organization is unique in Canada in that its efforts are directed at increasing the economic and social wealth and productivity of Canadians through improved quality, effectiveness and accessibility of counselling programs, especially in the areas of career counselling and career development.

We do this through our own means as well as through nurturing and participatory partnerships created in the spirit of collaboration, innovation and co-operation. We undertake both Research Project Partnerships and Learning and Professional Development Project Partnerships – funding applications are available on our web site. Our Board of Directors is drawn from professionals across Canada who represents the broad spectrum of career field.

Some of our initiatives include:

• CANNEXUS National Career Development Conference – a national bilingual event that brings together career professionals from across Canada to share research and knowledge.
• A Difference of Abilities: Recruiting, Hiring and Employing People with Disabilities – a DVD that examines the daily challenges facing people with disabilities and reveals the reasons why job-seekers and employers experience difficulty connecting and how that can change.
• 2007 Survey of Canadian attitudes on career counselling commissioned through Ipsos-Reid: (http://ceric.ca/documents/Ipsos%20Reid-CERIC%20Factum%202007.pdf)
• The National Youth Entrepreneur Social Attitude and Innovation Study, which examines youth attitudes toward entrepreneurship as a career option by outreaching to youth across Ontario and lower mainland British Columbia.
• Stories of Transition : Exploring the Antecedents of Career and Educational Choices among Young Adults, follows the stories of 120 Atlantic Canadians in their mid-twenties, analyzes their life experiences since high school graduation and their reflections on the supports, roadblocks and detours they encountered along the way.
• The Advancement of Career Counsellor Education in Canada, aims to:
  • gain an in-depth understanding, and to produce a detailed directory, of the current program offerings that are available for aspiring or practicing career counsellors
  • to better understand the career paths and educational backgrounds of those currently working in the field; and, to begin a process of forming a collective vision of Canadian career counsellor education programs for the future.
• Good WORK! Get a GREAT JOB or be your OWN BOSS: a young person’s guide“, an excellent resource for those working with youth. Published in 2006, author Nancy Schaefer builds on her previous book, “Good Job! A Young Person’s Guide To Finding, Landing, and Loving A Job”, by adding advice and information that a young person needs to start a business.

Further information on these initiatives is available through our website at: www.ceric.ca.

Rob Shea is the President of CERIC. Riz Ibrahim is the General Manager of CERIC. Both can be reached at admin@ceric.ca.