Project update: Q1-2024
What have we been up to?
We have already received some incredible feedback from employment service providers who accessed our Guiding Principles Checklist. Here’s what they said:
- "Thank you for providing our agency and our team with the opportunity to participate in this project.”
- “It was interesting, confirmed some of our current processes and provided great suggestions."
You can download your own copy of the Guiding Principles Checklist on our Publications + Reports page.
Youth Advisory Committee meetups
After our latest meetings with the Youth Advisory Committee (YAC), they shared their perspectives and experiences of career-life planning with us. They shared valuable insights to focus on, as we’re engaging educations from grades 10-12 to better understand how our work could support career-life planning in high schools. Here’s some of what we heard from youth:
- “Youth with disabilities value educator support to explore their options, develop employability skills, and build resilience and hope for their futures."
- “There is always room for improvement, especially with putting more of a focus on how people with disabilities will navigate and succeed in the world of work"
Plus, some of the topics that the YAC suggested to promote are:
· More exposure to career options
· Disability career navigation
· Professional relationships for wellbeing and life balance
· Learning through lived experiences
We are using these insights as we work with educators to support career-life planning in schools, within our curriculum. We'll keep you posted!
Spotlight
We have published our Caregiver Survey Report as part of the series of reports we’ve been sharing from our community network engagement across BC. The report provides the caregivers' perspective on what gaps and barriers youth under their care face, and provides insight into best practices for caregivers while navigating BC’s employment support landscape. These are some ideas to help youth with disabilities find and succeed in employment programs:
Offer immediate and easy-to-access employment support for youth with disabilities.
Make it easier for youth facing mental health challenges and those in the LGBTQIA2S+ community to access employment programs by providing clear pathways through schools.
To enhance the experience of youth with disabilities in employment programs, consider adding life skills training and mental health support to existing employment programs.
It is necessary to provide support throughout their job navigation, to help them find employers that accommodate their needs, and assist both youth and employers in understanding each other's needs and abilities.
We would like to extend our thanks to all the caregiver participants across BC., who provided valuable input to keep developing the Employment Strategy for Youth with Disabilities.
Download a copy of the Caregiver Survey Report on our Publications + Reports page.
Calling Career-Life Educators and Staff for Grades 9-12!
Share your experiences and needs for supporting youth with disabilities (including mental health challenges and substance use histories) in career-life planning.
Take a few minutes to fill out our Educator Survey for a chance to win a $150 gift card!
Your valuable input will help us build strategy and resources for across British Columbia.
If you have any questions or for more information, please contact Laura Pringle at youthstratengagement@uvic.ca or 250-721-7670.
What’s next?
Within the next quarter, will be recruiting participants whose stories are a good fit to build up our curriculum. Each storytelling session is a paid opportunity, open to all youth (ages 15-30) living in BC, who self-identify as having a disability. If you are interested to support us with your story, please contact Emily Flegel at youthstratanalyst@uvic.ca.
The Service Provider Survey Report is in its final stage of review. We will share it with you when it is available.
Want to stay up-to-date on all our project information? Join our email list and get our project updates straight to your inbox. Email youthstratcommunications2@uvic.ca to be added to our email list!
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