GSEP Corner

By David Marulanda

Skilled immigrants comprise a significant portion of the population in our country (Statistics Canada, 2017). Their successful settlement in Canada largely hinges on finding employment commensurate with their professional experience. Nevertheless, skilled immigrants face barriers such as stringent accreditation requirements and lack of recognition of foreign credentials that lead them to unemployment or underemployment (Chen & Hong, 2016; Elez, 2014). For those who are able to overcome the aforementioned barriers and are eligible to seek professional employment in their field of expertise, there still remains the significant challenge of becoming proficient in a job search process that may not resemble the professional culture in their home country (Chen, 2008; Kennedy & Chen, 2012).

By Caroline Locher-Lo

Canada’s demographic makeup has been influenced dramatically by a large infusion of Asian immigrants over the past 25 years (Guo & DeVoretz, 2006). Visible minorities now comprise 19 percent of the Canadian population (Liodakis & Satzewich, 2010). In the year 2010 alone, Canada received over 280,000 new immigrants, the highest level in 50 years. These migrants came from over 170 countries (ibid), with Mainland China continuing to be the top source country to British Columbia since 1998 (Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2016). Since 1991, the Chinese language cluster has been the top non-official language spoken in the Greater Vancouver Area (Statistics Canada, 2016), and over 250,000 individuals in British Columbia, including immigrants from Taiwan, identify Mandarin as their spoken language at home (ibid).

By Heejin Kim

According to Gordon (1983), “[ballet dancers] are not ordinary people with ordinary needs and ordinary desires; they are a breed apart” (p. 7). The ballet world is unique that it has its own set of norms and customs (Hamilton, 1998). Dancers are famous for their extraordinary dedication for their pursuit (Hamilton, 1998; Hamilton, Solomon & Solomon, 2006), and “art does not exist to serve life; life exists to serve art” in the ballet world (Gordon, 1986, p. 102). Ballet dancers are required to sustain their deep sense of commitment and single-minded focus from their early childhood to adulthood (Hamilton, 1998; Kelman, 2000; Pickard & Bailey, 2009) to perform on the professional level. Ballet dancers endure exceptional adversity not only during their training (Montanari & Zietkiewicz, 2000), but also in their performance career (Hernandez, 2012; Kelman, 2000). The adversity experienced by ballet dancers are well documented in the existing literature, and the majority of the previous studies on ballet dancers has largely focused on one specific challenge, such as psychological distress (Mainwaring & Finney, 2017), body image (Radell, Keneman, Mandradjieff, Adame, & Cole, 2017), physical injury (Smith, Gerrie, Varner, McCulloch, Lintner, & Harris, 2015), nutrition (Lee, Kim, & Kim, 2015), eating disorder (Peric, Zenic, Sekulic, Kondric, & Zaletel, 2016), or retirement and career transition (Roncaglia, 2008; Wainwright & Turner, 2006; Willard & Lavallee, 2016). It is worth noting that there is dearth of research on a more integrative exploration of ballet dancers’ experiences using their voice (Gray & Kunkel, 2001).

By Eleanor Becker

Preface

Like the field of counselling psychology at large, career counselling theories and their corresponding applied interventions have undergone shifts and transformations over the past several decades, often in attunement with socioeconomic and political factors (Neault, 2014). It has been suggested that there are a number of trends among recent theories of career counselling that address the climate of the current world of work, including an emphasis on constructivist frameworks, holism, flexibility, and the role of context and taking action (Caverley, Quesette, Shepard, & Mani, 2014). These frameworks have been described as postmodern in the literature, in that they offer the best approach for clients given the current global economic landscape and need for theories that more thoroughly address the myriad facets of people’s lives in relation to career. Identifying these patterns is a first step in the development of a cohesive framework from which to implement career development theory, practice, and research.

By Andrea Christensen

Preface

Having been a stay-at-home mom and career changer myself, I speak from the heart and with a great sense of empathy to women who are in the midst of navigating this stage of life. My experience as a teacher, stay-at-home mom, business manager, and then career practitioner (in that order) has provided me with an excellent sense of the realities of career transition and career interruption, including the discouragement of feeling left behind, and the excitement of starting something new and meaningful.