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2.4.3.1 Resettlement workers: Establishing close relationships with refugee families

Previous studies suggested that school-based settlement workers from resettlement agencies play a crucial role in the growth of refugee youth (Georgis et al., 2014; Li et al., 2017; Stewart, 2012). In Li et al.’s study (2017), these settlement workers worked with refugee students on a daily basis, helping them integrate into school and community, including the navigation of the Canadian school system, the selection of schools and classes, homework and language tutoring, the introduction of the public transportation system, and the assistance in finding volunteer jobs and choosing post-secondary programs. Li et al. recommended that more schools should work with the settlement workers to better facilitate refugee youth’s integration into school and community.

Georgis et al. (2014) also found that the community settlement workers from the same cultural and linguistic backgrounds as their refugee clients are more likely to build close and trusting relationships with refugee parents, and therefore serve as cultural

brokers for the refugee families. Once the strong relationships are built, refugee parents would feel comfortable to engage in school to voice their opinions, express their needs, and request supports.

Moreover, assigning on-site settlement workers to school is a good example of community organizations’ shifting of their services and programs to refugee youth’s microsystem (Li et al., 2017). In Li et al.’s study (2017), one settlement worker was stationed at a middle school and a high school to work with refugee students. Community organizations usually are considered as refugee youth’s exosystem – the environmental contexts which have an important but indirect influence on human development

((Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998). However, school-based settlement workers have shifted from refugee youth’s exosystem to their microsystem because they spend much of their time working in school and visiting refugee students' families, through which they have fostered close relationships with refugee students and their parents (Li et al., 2017). Li et al. (2017) further suggested community organizations should follow this good model of practice to have staff members stationed at school to deliver their programs and

services, bringing more direct benefits to refugee youth.

2.4.3.2 Mental health counsellors: Introducing whole-family mental health interventions

In addition to settlement services, scholars suggested community organizations offer counselling services to promote refugee youth’s mental health in particular (Beiser, Puente-Duran, & Hou, 2015; Feuerverger, 2011; Guruge & Butt, 2015). Feuerverger (2011) believed that listening to refugee students’ stories of their struggles, sufferings, as well as their hope is the first step to help them. The trauma they carry with them is hidden,

and they seldom have an opportunity to tell their challenges as they confront the process of immigration, and therefore conversations with refugee students would allow them to tell their stories and to have their voices heard (Feuerverger, 2011).

Moreover, engaging parents in mental health interventions is of great importance (Guruge & Butt, 2015). Guruge and Butt (2015) indicated that counsellors should listen to refugee parents’ views concerning their children’s mental health issues. In addition, counsellors should attend to refugee parents’ resettlement stress by referring them to language and employment training to improve their economic status (Beiser et al., 2015).

2.4.3.3 Career counsellors: Providing holistic career services

Since refugee youth have a strong sense of determination to pursue meaningful work (Gateley, 2014), employment is at the core of the services provided by community agencies. Career counsellors act as employment-oriented cultural brokers helping refugee youth integrate into the Canadian labour market (Gateley, 2014). Several researchers suggested that career counsellors working with refugee youth should focus on establishing close relationships with them through addressing their needs beyond employment (Abkhezr, McMahon, & Rossouw, 2015; Gateley, 2014; Wilkinson et al., 2012). Abkhezr et al. (2015) recommended that career counsellors consider a narrative career counselling approach while working with refugee students. This approach would allow refugee students to have the opportunity to tell the stories of their cultures, pre- migration experiences, post-migration challenges, and current needs (Abkhezr et al., 2015). Therefore, through a narrative approach, career counsellors would better

understand refugee students’ cultural backgrounds and current living conditions, as well as building close relationships with them (Abkhezr et al., 2015). Similarly, Gately (2014)

indicated that the employment services for refugee youth should attend to their particular needs, including living necessities, emotional turmoil, language difficulties, and legal documentation.

Moreover, the more information on the Canadian labour market that refugee parents are provided, the more likely that their children would be able to make informed and effective decisions about their educational paths and career (Wilkinson, 2008). For example, career counsellors could inform refugee parents that a university education is not the only post-secondary pathway and that there are other options like vocational and training opportunities available to their children (Lauer et al., 2011). In addition, career counsellors also need to pay attention to the well-being of the entire family such as their financial conditions and social integration (Lauer et al., 2011). More importantly, career counsellors should provide the necessary support to help refugee parents create a healthy family environment because refugee students from stable and healthy families tend to have better academic performance in school and then have a smoother transition to the labour market in Canada (Wilkinson, 2008).

2.4.4 Governments: Providing adequate funding and building a welcoming