Newcomer youth thriving: Aryan's journey through the continuum of support

Alberta has the fourth highest number of newcomer youth in the country, but for so many of these youth, settling into a new place comes with significant challenges that can become long-term. With limited time to adapt to a new culture and gain the skills necessary for employment, newcomer youth are more vulnerable to social isolation, poverty, depression and anxiety, dropping out of high school, unemployment and ongoing challenges to integration.

When it comes to youth growing into healthy and independent adults, it is crucial that they develop confidence, a positive sense of identity, skills and relationships. At Trellis, we work together with our programs and community partners to connect youth with multiple supports as well as opportunities for cultural bridging. We were able to see the impact of this continuum of support while working with a youth named Aryan.

Follow Aryan’s journey and see how having support available made a difference on his outcome.

Meet Aryan

When we first met Aryan, he was a 16-year-old searching for a way to live independently – a desire underlined by rising tensions at home and minimal life skills. Aryan was initially part of our All In For Youth (AIFY) program before he was referred to Building Youth Connections (BYC). As a permanent resident youth, he wanted help with finding cultural connections while also dealing with his aggressive behaviour at school and conflicts with his newcomer family.

Trouble at Home

After meeting Aryan’s family, the team saw that he grappled with his family’s expectations and his desire to establish his identity. BYC and AIFY worked together to understand Aryan’s needs and make sure he felt heard. To prevent tensions from escalating and creating a potentially harmful place for all  family members, the teams immediately began looking into an alternate living situation for Aryan.

Finding a Natural Support

By engaging with the Natural Supports Framework (NSF) the teams found a family connection who Aryan could live with while they actively worked on repairing relationships at home. Aryan’s aunt brought him into her home for a few months, and this was a great experience for the whole family. Aryan shared that he developed new social skills, learned how to cook and felt a lot of overall happiness in their home.

The team also creatively used Barrier Removal Funding to support Aryan’s aunt with additional living costs, including rent and grocery gift cards. Removing financial barriers and giving her the support she needed ensured Aryan’s aunt was able to provide a safe, familiar, culturally appropriate home for Aryan.

Cultural Bridging

Intentionally creating space for both Aryan and his family allowed everyone to step back, reflect and try to understand each other’s needs better. BYC connected with another Trellis team, Community Connections (Outreach), as well as our partners at Centre for Newcomers so that Aryan’s family could access important translation supports in their home language of Oromo.

Making Connections

The team also made soft referrals to community supports including Antyx, a local non-profit that uses community arts and development to engage with youth. Aryan is currently a weekly participant in their hip hop dance program.

Getting Hired

During the summer, Aryan was referred to our Youth Work Experience program as a retail worker, which he interviewed for and was hired on for six weeks. Aryan gained pre-employment skills, an opportunity to earn an income and continued support in his employment journey. This was his first work experience in Canada.

Going Home

After some discussion with his cousins and family, Aryan had a breakthrough. He told the BYC team “I realized my parents actually love me and that moving out would be selfish and that it would make my parents sad.”

Aryan continued to work with BYC through his emotions and how he came to this realization, which he says is thanks to encouragement from his aunt and cousins. Aryan decided returned home, just in time to start school in September!

Looking back on Aryan’s journey, we see how he and his family worked collaboratively with so many programs and people. It is this valuable wraparound of support that makes it possible to remove barriers and provide the right supports so people like Aryan and his family can flourish.