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Program Development
Research Topics:
Refugee and Newcomers Emotional Wellness
Through the Refugee and Newcomers Emotional Wellness (ReNEW) program, we gained valuable new knowledge on the benefits of settlement counsellors and the types of assistance refugees and newcomers seek from them. The success of this program created new opportunities for more detailed inquiries and evaluation of settlement counselling services in various contexts.
Project Information
What is the ReNEW Program?
The ReNEW program was a yearlong settlement counselling service offered to The Immigrant Education Society (TIES) clients. Through this program, clients were able to meet with a settlement counsellor who offered assistance for a broad range of issues such as managing cases with Alberta Works, gaining access to the Calgary Food Bank, submitting applications to Calgary Housing, and dealing with personal adjustment-related concerns.
What were the aims of ReNEW?
This program aimed to:
- Learn what types of concerns clients have when accessing settlement counselling and the frequency of each concern.
Why is this topic important?
ReNEW was a consolidation of previous informal referral and resource distribution practices among TIES staff and clients. Prior to the creation of the program, there was a high demand among clients for counselling, many from newly arrived refugees. The project relied on individuals within TIES who had the repertoire to assist with the variety of client needs and who had previously effectively helped clients with their concerns.
The ReNEW program demonstrated what type of knowledge and aptitudes in a counsellor was more important to clients and which ones were not more definitively. In addition to the refinement of existing practices, this project allowed for the collection of information regarding the most common types of concerns refugees and newcomers have. Such knowledge was essential in determining future approaches to settlement counselling across regions and platforms.
Project Activities
The ReNEW program delivered 226 one-on-one settlement counselling sessions to newcomers and refugees between July 2017 and June 2018. Clients were able to discreetly inform program staff about their emotional support needs and were assisted through consultations and appointments with a counsellor.
- 121 referrals were made to Calgary’s settlement agencies and other resource providers for financial, personal, career, academic, and behavioural concerns.
Lessons Learned
High levels of engagement with ReNEW indicate that there is a real need for settlement counselling. A regular traffic of clients with a wide range of questions met with ReNEW counsellors. This suggests that settlement counselling services are valuable resources for refugees and newcomers and should be offered more widely by settlement organizations.
It is important to utilize the knowledge and experiences of trusted individuals within the organization. The development of a settlement counselling service effectively employs the knowledge of staff.
Most often, clients were concerned about settlement stressors. More serious cases involving mental health issues like post-traumatic stress disorder or depression turned out to be relatively rare, with approximately one case per month. The vast majority of help sought by clients were related to settlement issues like employment, housing and academic performance.
Learn More
If you would like to learn more about the ReNEW program and our subsequent ReNEW research study, you can read our publications:
