A Conceptual Framework for a Trauma- and Violence-Informed Approach to Youth Employment and Skills Training

Authors:SRDC SRSASRSA SRDC

Trauma is both the experience of and response to an overwhelmingly negative event or series of events that impede an individual’s ability to cope (Klinic Community Health Centre, 2013; Urquhart & Jasiura, 2013).

Traumatic events happen to all people of all ages and across socio-economic strata; however, certain populations are more likely to experience them. In Canada, racialized people1 face a higher likelihood of exposure to trauma and violence at individual, interpersonal, and systemic levels (PHAC, 2018).

For racialized young people living in Canada, 2 social disadvantages, challenging environmental circumstances, and poor health, interact and compound mechanisms by which experiences trauma influence well-documented barriers to finding and thriving employment (Block & Galabuzi, 2011; Goodman, 2015).

Given that employment is a critical determinant of health, and since unemployed youth living in Canada make up a large share of young people who access multiple social services such as housing, mental health, justice, and education supports (Henderson, Hawke, & Chaim, 2017), employment support programs offer an important opportunity for intervention

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Project Details

Capability: Policy Research
Policy Area: Employment - Employment Supports and Services, Youth Development and Inclusion
Population: Youth
Type: Working Paper
Start Date: May 2019
Completion Date: December 2020
Sponsors: Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)

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