Hi everyone,

My girlfriend and I are hoping to move to Calgary for a couple of years (hopefully more!) and are anxiously awaiting the opening for IEC Visas so as we can make our first step.

I wanted to ask a couple of questions regarding employment in my field, I work for a charity, supporting people with Mental Health problems who are coming to us from a background of homelessness and/or from hospital, and we prepare them so as they're ready for intergration back in to community. Doing so by getting them on the right benefits, helping them to learn/relearn basic household/living tasks etc. It's hard to give it a specific title, but support worker would probably suit best. I'm having difficulty translating that in to 'Canadian' when looking through job adverts but also on the National Occupation Classification List.

There's a lot of information and jobs for 'Social Work' and also both 'Geriatric Care' and 'Live in Caregivers'; but nothing I can slot my role in to.

I have a college Diploma in Health & Social Care and also a vocational qualification in the same subject, I'm registered with the professional body here in Scotland and done dozens more relevent qualifications such as the (Canadian born) ASIST training, also First Aid, H&S etc.

We're coming to Canada for the experience and if I end up doing bar work (and she the same, she has a degree) for the duration of our journey then we'll still be more than happy. We come with no expectations and just want to have a good time. That said, working in the fields where we have qualifications will of course give us more money but also the chance to be able to go down a route which will enable us to stay in Canada longer.

Sorry for the extra long post but to summarise:

• I'd really like to hear from anyone who works across the board in Social Work / Care and can help me with 'translation' NOCP/job title wise.
• Anyone who can tell me how likely employers are in fields such as mine to take on someone who could potentially only be there for two years.
• How much weight (if any) my qualifications and professional membership would carry when trying to have them recognised in Canada.

Thanks in advance!

Someone with lots of knowledge will no doubt be along, but in the meantime I believe your job would come under NOC 4212 Within the link is a list of all the jobs that come under that NOC code, Mental Health Support Worker being one of them.

It is not a regulated profession in Alberta or indeed in any of the Provinces, however, you will probably need to get your qualifications recognised.

You can see what kinds of jobs are available here

Hope that helps a little

That helps a lot Siouxie and is much appreciated. Thank you kindly!