Published 2021-10-22
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The SKCDA Podcast team interviews Julie Kehrig, CCDP, Career and Employment Specialist with Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada to learn more about how to support and empower clients with vision loss.   See resources for episode at https://www.skcda.ca/skcda-podcast.html

Books:

• Career Counseling for People With Disabilities: A Practical Guide to Finding Employment 2nd Edition - by Karen E. Wolffe 
• Taking Charge of Your Career Direction: Career Planning Guide, Book 1 – by Robert D. Lock
• Strengthening Mental Health Through Effective Career Development: A Practitioners Guide - by David Eric Dean Redekopp and Michael Huston (available as a free PDF on the Ceric website, or in print through Amazon).

 
Websites:

• The Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada website to learn more about VLRSK’s Services for people who are blind and partially sighted, and how to become a client: https://www.visionlossrehab.ca/en?region=sk

Training:

• Highly recommend the University of Calgary’s Career Development and Academic Advising Program. It’s an opportunity to learn the skills and theory needed to be proficient in your field: https://conted.ucalgary.ca/public/category/courseCategoryCertificateProfile.do?method=load&certificateId=45197004 -- (Forgot to mention this, but I completed the program in 2019! J)
• CERIC – (Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling) for webinars and training: https://ceric.ca/ceric-events/webinars/

• Hadley School for the Blind - courses to learn Braille
• Dr. Karen Wolffe - bio on APH FamilyConnect | Youtubevideo links | Perkins e-Learning Career Education for Children who are Blind or Visually Impaired
• JAWS Program - product overview - Jaws BasicsYoutube (Points of Access)
• Braille Display -info from CNIB website - APH Youtube video - info on Refreshable Braille Displays
• Global Gathering Place Success Story:  Integrating and thriving with vision loss: GGP's partnership with Vision Loss Rehabilitation Saskatchewan
• CERIC Careerwise: Supporting Individuals with sight loss in career services (S. Dyton, L. Rosevear)
• CERIC Careerwise: Tools and resources for career professionals who support clients with vision loss (M. Baratta)
• CERIC Literature Search: Persons with Disabilities and Career Development

Presented by Ellie Tamura on June 2, 2021The SKCDA is pleased to host Ellie Tamura, Community Coordinator for ABC Life Literacy Canada for a professional development session on the Adult Literacy Programs and Resources that they offer.

ABC Life Literacy Canada is a non-profit organization that aims to strengthen organizations that promote adult learning. They develop and support the use of high-quality introductory learning materials and resources written in clear language. ABC Life Literacy envisions a Canada where everyone has the tools and opportunities they need to improve their literacy and essential skills.

More details on UP Skills for Work can be found here. 

The event details are as follows: 

Date: June 2, 2021
Time: 12:00 PM- 1:00 PM CST ​Resource LinksSKCDA Youtube recording of session: youtu.be/UEgwDHwUQ_Q
PowerPoint slide deck

Presented by Maureen Souply (AWES) on May 26, 2021Introduction:
​
The SKCDA is pleased to welcome Maureen Souply from AWES for a professional development session on Guided Pathways: Integrating Essential Skills. Alberta Workforce Essential Skills Society (AWES) provides workplace training that supports all aspects of a worker's career path. This includes training trainers, assessing skills, uncovering gaps, developing programming and evaluating the results of our essential skills training.  Their goal is simple: for workers to have the essential skills they need to fully participate in the workplace, in their communities, and in their personal lives.

Guided Pathways: Integrating Essential Skills is a five-year project funded by the Government of Canada.  This project began in 2019 to integrate essential skills tools and resources into current career development practices. An online training workshop designed to equip career development practitioners with tools to assess client needs and provide more effective pathways to gainful employment will be delivered to 900 career development practitioners across Canada starting in the spring of 2021.

Maureen Souply is the Project Manager for Guided Pathways and a consultant with AWES. She has worked in adult education for over 15 years in a variety of areas including essential skills, language learning and international educational development.PowerPoint from SessionHere is link to PowerPoint from session, courtesy of the presenter:​

guided_pathways_skcda.pdf
Download File
Recording of session​See on the SKCDA YouTube channel: Maureen Souply on Guided Pathways

Resources Mentioned during Session:
​
Alberta Workforce Essential Skills Society (AWES)

• AWES website: https://awes.ca/
• working faster, working safer https://awes.ca/awesca/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/WFWS-WB-2019-final-Sept-9.pdf
• workforce participation https://awes.ca/awesca/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/BCC-workbook-1-Mar-2020.pdf
• all resources here - https://awes.ca/what-we-offer/tools-publications/
• working faster working safer YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhxfoRsZ9M4&list=PLb5jNH9sU42GWqXUvaCnOP2RMnVzFYtsp

Government of Canada – Skills for Success (formerly Essential Skills)

• Essential Skills indicator - https://www.canada.ca/en/services/jobs/training/initiatives/skills-success/tools/online-indicator.html
• Skills for Success - Govt of Canada - https://www.canada.ca/en/services/jobs/training/initiatives/skills-success.html
• description of Skills for Success https://www.canada.ca/en/services/jobs/training/initiatives/skills-success/understanding-individuals.html

Guided Pathways project

• Guided Pathways website: https://guidedpathways.ca/
• Resources page - https://guidedpathways.ca/resources/
• bios of the guidance committee - https://awes.ca/blog/guided-pathways-meet-the-advisory-committee/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=guided-pathways-meet-the-advisory-committee

Other Useful Sources of Information

• Tutela - https://tutela.ca/PublicHomePage
• Norquest College – Colbourne Institute for Inclusive Leadership https://www.norquest.ca/research-innovation/colbourne-institute-for-inclusive-leadership.aspx

Presented by Kathy McDonald & Rebecca McCarthy from CCDF Feb 9, 2021Join the SKCDA for a presentation on the CDP Core Competencies and the current progress on the Pan-Canadian Certification.

Thanks to the ongoing engagement by CDPs across Canada, the Supporting Canadians to Navigate Learning and Work (CDP Competence) Project is proud to launch the newly validated pan-Canadian Competency Framework and the Canadian Competency Profile for CDPs (2020). Our focus is now on collaborating with CDPs to navigate the journey towards national certification. Come and engage with your colleagues as we explore building the foundation for a sustainable and progressive Canadian Competency-based Certification Program for CDPs (2021) that will outlast this project.

This presentation was given over zoom on February 9, 2021. There were 2 sessions. The first session was from 12:00 pm- 1:00 pm CST. The second session was from 2:00 pm- 3:00 pm CST. This recording is an amalgam of the two sessions, incorporating the presentation in full from the first as well as the Q&A sessions from both.
PresentersKathy McDonald, CCDF Project Director, is a life-long learner and educator with accomplishments in the research, design, development, implementation and evaluation of innovative population-level, equity-based programs and policies, provincially, regionally, and nationally.

Rebecca McCarthy, CCDF Project Analyst, believes that learning and technology are accessible to users at all levels. Having helped developed CCDF’s VOCO Training Centre, she identifies solutions that lift and grow with career development professionals, without creating hurdles.Timestamps on VideoSee video on SKCDA YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/ZP3hFJN6ZpU

0:00 welcome by Charlene McLean (SKCDA)
1:46 introductory remarks Kathy McDonald & Rebecca McCarthy (CCDF)
41:45 Q&A session - first round
52:07 Q&A session - second round ​Further Resources​Learn more about the CDP Competence project at https://ccdf.ca/news-articles/support... 
Learn more about the CCDF at https://ccdf.ca/