Welcome to episode 26 of the Technology in Human Services podcast. In this episode, I’m chatting with Omar Yaqub of the Islamic Family & Social Services Association in Edmonton. Omar and his team are re-envisioning a modern intake system for the social services sector that leverages technology, including machine learning and predictive analysis. You know, the promise of tech – prompting you with questions or suggestions as you use technology. On the surface it looks like a tech...

Welcome to episode 26 of the Technology in Human Services podcast. In this episode, I’m chatting with Omar Yaqub of the Islamic Family & Social Services Association in Edmonton. Omar and his team are re-envisioning a modern intake system for the social services sector that leverages technology, including machine learning and predictive analysis. You know, the promise of tech – prompting you with questions or suggestions as you use technology. On the surface it looks like a tech...

Welcome to Episode 25 of the Technology in Human Services Podcast. In this episode I’m chatting with Anesh Daya, Edupreneur, ESL Disruptor, and Chief Innovation Officer of On the Spot Language, an Experiential Language Learning Program that guides and coaches English as a Second language learners to become independent language learners. Anesh is a language lover who has not only taught, managed, and developed ESL programs around the world, he also spent time in Taiwan learning...

Welcome to Episode 25 of the Technology in Human Services Podcast. In this episode I’m chatting with Anesh Daya, Edupreneur, ESL Disruptor, and Chief Innovation Officer of On the Spot Language, an Experiential Language Learning Program that guides and coaches English as a Second language learners to become independent language learners. Anesh is a language lover who has not only taught, managed, and developed ESL programs around the world, he also spent time in Taiwan learning...

Recently I moderated a panel focused on measuring virtual service delivery for the Peel Newcomer Strategy Group, and then we had a short focus group after with participants. Manjeet Dhiman from ACCES Employment was on the panel along with Jason Shim from Pathways to Education Canada, and Lawrence Murphy from Worldwide Therapy Online. The PNSG audience was interested in perspectives from outside the sector, so I brought Jason and Lawrence together, but also thought Manjeet could...

Recently I moderated a panel focused on measuring virtual service delivery for the Peel Newcomer Strategy Group, and then we had a short focus group after with participants. Manjeet Dhiman from ACCES Employment was on the panel along with Jason Shim from Pathways to Education Canada, and Lawrence Murphy from Worldwide Therapy Online. The PNSG audience was interested in perspectives from outside the sector, so I brought Jason and Lawrence together, but also thought Manjeet could...

Welcome to episode 23 of the Technology in Human Services podcast. In this conversation I speak with Dave Montague and Carrie Moody from Findhelp Information Services in Toronto. Among other things, they manage the 211 service in the Greater Toronto Area. I think that 211 is still a relatively under known service and community gem and I wanted to talk to them to bring out some of the important work they do. In particular, 211 has become an essential service during the pandemic. So I...

Welcome to episode 23 of the Technology in Human Services podcast. In this conversation I speak with Dave Montague and Carrie Moody from Findhelp Information Services in Toronto. Among other things, they manage the 211 service in the Greater Toronto Area. I think that 211 is still a relatively under known service and community gem and I wanted to talk to them to bring out some of the important work they do. In particular, 211 has become an essential service during the pandemic. So I...

Abby David is the Manager of Employment Initiatives at the New Brunswick Multicultural Council (NBMC). Earlier this Summer I learned that NBMC had been doing some innovative coordinating work with member agencies after everyone pivoted to remote work. I was curious about their work with member agencies to develop policies and tools and share best practices on: * Communication (internal for settlement staff and external for clients, including support in different...

Abby David is the Manager of Employment Initiatives at the New Brunswick Multicultural Council (NBMC). Earlier this Summer I learned that NBMC had been doing some innovative coordinating work with member agencies after everyone pivoted to remote work. I was curious about their work with member agencies to develop policies and tools and share best practices on: * Communication (internal for settlement staff and external for clients, including support in different...

Laura Mannix is the Director of Community Development at DIVERSEcity Community Resources Society. I spoke with Laura to talk about her work bringing social innovation culture into her organization, as well as how DIVERSECity has been able to pivot remotely. We talk about what all of that has meant for the kind of community work that they do and how it relates to newcomer and community engagement as well. I find her journey towards innovation and how she incorporated it...

Welcome to episode 20 of the Technology in Human Services Podcast. Be data driven. Make your decisions based on data. We’ve all heard the platitudes. And data is something that the immigrant and refugee-serving sector has huge amounts of, and does very little with. In 2017, the Toronto East Quadrant Local Immigration Partnership started looking into changing that. In this episode I interview Hope Nester, Research Partnership Lead on their Scarborough Newcomer Needs and...

Welcome to episode 19 of the Technology in Human Services podcast. In this episode, I chat with Victoria Esses. You’ll get her bio when she introduces herself. Among other things she has done a great deal of work understanding information practices of newcomers. In this conversation, we talk about that along with the work she is doing to highlight promising practices in the immigrant and refugee-serving sector, the resiliency of the sector, innovation, and the role that Local Immigration...

In this episode, I’m so excited to welcome Lawrence Murphy back to the podcast. Lawrence is a pioneer in cyber counselling in Canada. Given the move to sudden remote work for everyone, including human and social services workers, therapists, etc., I wanted to get his insights on where we’re at and what things may look like in the future. In particular, what he is seeing now that excites him, what concerns him, what is happening in his own practice, research, and the professional development...

When I think about the future of immigrant and refugee-services in Canada, there are a number of people I always want to talk to. Chris Friesen of ISSofBC is one of them. He’s well connected and we’ll respected in the sector. Generous with his time. Innovative in his work. Chris always finds time to chat. He’ll take a moment to answer questions in some small research I’m doing. He tells me about things I didn’t know were going on in the sector. In this interview, I surface the...

It’s useful to understand how your clients look for, find, assess and act on information. In this interview, U of T Professor Nadia Caidi provides an overview of newcomer information seeking behaviour and practice. I interviewed Professor Caidi in 2018 for Findhelp’s online course Settlement Information and Referral Online Training Program. That discussion is relevant today more than ever. As the sector has shifted to working remotely, understanding the information seeking behaviour...

You’ve likely been inundated with articles, tips, courses, webinars and more about working virtually. I’ve shared a lot of those materials. Within my network, when I saw Roxana share that she’s been getting lots of requests for tips about how to work virtually, I thought we should chat. In this interview, Roxana shares her experience working both as part of international virtual teams, as well as a remote consultant. She shares tips about : * logistics* platforms for...

Things moved quickly, like everywhere. Suddenly schools closed. Travel was discouraged. Community service agencies had to decide if they were going to close and how they would continue to provide service. In this interview, Jennifer Chan of North York Community House talks about how she quickly decided to move an upcoming design lab online with her team of facilitators and twenty youth researchers. Her team has been working to better understand the everyday lives of community members –...

Welcome to season 2 of the Technology in Human Services podcast! This is a recording of a presentation I recently made at a technology/professional development day with CSAE Trillium. My presentation, Podcasting: the how and why for your nonprofit, focused on: * Trends and statistics* 5 steps to make it work (including how I do it)* Measuring success* Resources I wasn’t able to stay for an after-lunch panel and round-table discussion with other presenters. So I...

In this episode, I spoke with Marc-André Séguin, an immigration lawyer with the firm Exeo, in Montreal. Earlier this year, Marc-André and his partner Francis Tourigny, launched the first immigration chatbot in Canada. Immigration Virtual Assistant, or IVA, is a Facebook Messenger-based chatbot. Why IVA? Marc-André says he was interested in providing a different experience, to offer free information and make sure the information is accurate, updated, that the line of questioning would be...

In this episode, I spoke with Marc-André Séguin, an immigration lawyer with the firm Exeo, in Montreal. Earlier this year, Marc-André and his partner Francis Tourigny, launched the first immigration chatbot in Canada. Immigration Virtual Assistant, or IVA, is a Facebook Messenger-based chatbot. Why IVA? Marc-André says he was interested in providing a different experience, to offer free information and make sure the information is accurate, updated, that the line of questioning would be...

In this episode I spoke with Madison Watson – Director, Pre-Arrival Settlement Services, YMCA-YWCA of the National Capital Region. The Y is running a online pre-arrival service for newcomers to Canada. I’m a huge fan of the idea of pre-arrival services for new immigrants to Canada. Getting information into their hands before they arrive should cut down on the time it takes for them to get up to speed and settle into their new communities. Recently Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada...

In this episode I spoke with Madison Watson – Director, Pre-Arrival Settlement Services, YMCA-YWCA of the National Capital Region. The Y is running a online pre-arrival service for newcomers to Canada. I’m a huge fan of the idea of pre-arrival services for new immigrants to Canada. Getting information into their hands before they arrive should cut down on the time it takes for them to get up to speed and settle into their new communities. Recently Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada...

In March of this year, PeaceGeeks was one of the winners of the Google Impact Challenge. They took home $750,000 to bring their “Services Advisor” mobile app/system to Canada (previously used in Jordan with UNHCR) focused on connecting newcomers to Canada with services, including service tracking, etc. PeaceGeeks is a global non-profit, volunteer organization that uses technology to build the technological, communications and management capacities of grassroots organizations who work to...

In March of this year, PeaceGeeks was one of the winners of the Google Impact Challenge. They took home $750,000 to bring their “Services Advisor” mobile app/system to Canada (previously used in Jordan with UNHCR) focused on connecting newcomers to Canada with services, including service tracking, etc. PeaceGeeks is a global non-profit, volunteer organization that uses technology to build the technological, communications and management capacities of grassroots organizations who work to...