The number of refugees admitted to Canada and Québec is expected to increase over the next few years. Counsellors need to understand these people’s reality if they are to support them in developing a project for social and professional integration. To adapt and integrate into a new society, refugees with low levels of education need to learn new skills in almost every facet of their lives.  However, the staff responsible for providing them with support and counselling often find themselves at a loss, as the majority of studies in this field have been carried out with qualified immigrants. In response to this need, CERIC funded a project that resulted in the development of a guide to understanding the realities of refugees with low levels of education, to design guidance interventions and support them according to their realities and objectives, and to support the development of cross-cultural intervention skills among counsellors.  

In this webinar, we will provide an overview of the challenges faced by refugees with low levels of education, in order to understand their reality and the issues with which they must contend. Next, we will take a look at a few theoretical points to help us better understand cultural differences and design counselling interventions for this population. Thirdly, cross-cultural posture, attitudes and skills will be presented to help counsellors understand how they need to adjust their interventions. Finally, a number of elements specifically related to counselling intervention will be addressed, such as free and informed consent, counselling evaluation and the working alliance. The aim of this webinar is to equip counselling and career development professionals to work with refugees, both in groups and individually, while exploring the unique intervention guide that they can integrate into their practice. 

• Develop awareness of cross-cultural intervention in counselling refugees with low levels of education. 
• Gradually acquire a counselling process tailored to the reality of this demographic, along with the required cross-cultural skills. 

Marcelline Bengaly, professor at Université Laval and researcher at the CRIEVAT. She is particularly interested in the analysis of identity reconstruction processes among migrants.

Patricia Dionne, associate professor in the career counselling department at Université de Sherbrooke. From a social justice perspective, her work focuses on group intervention in counselling for adults living in poverty, with mental health problems or for immigrants. 

Liette Goyer, professor, researcher, career counsellor, psychotherapist and supervisor. She runs the Laboratoire sur l’analyse des dispositifs d’accompagnement et de la compétence à s’orienter (ADACO) which is affiliated to the CRIEVAT at Université Laval.

Annie Gourde, PhD student at Université Laval and career counsellor since 2006. She meets with diverse clients in private practice, including immigrants, experiencing all kinds of career-related challenges. She teaches courses at Université Laval on LMI and socio-professional integration of various client bases, among other things. 

Julie Morissette, career counsellor and socio-professional integration trainer, has been working with refugees with low levels of education for over 15 years. She is currently working on a PhD on the conceptualization of cross-cultural counselling. She also teaches career counselling at the Université de Sherbrooke.