Contributed by: Sofia Kingsley – Project Assistant, Practicum
The Connecting Minds 2025 conference at Kwantlen Polytechnic University this spring offered a wealth of insights and research into the evolving landscape of psychology, counselling, and career development from undergraduate students all over North America. With diverse research presentations, engaging panels, and a keynote on misinformation, the event illuminated important themes relevant to career development professionals – particularly around diversity, bias, misinformation, and emerging technologies. I’ll summarize the first here. Watch for parts 2 and 3 soon.
1. Navigating Complex Cultural Identities and Diversity in Career Pathways
The conference underscored the fluidity and complexity of cultural identities, especially for visible minority second-generation Canadians. Research by Borruel revealed that these individuals often experience a sense of being “too Canadian” for their heritage communities and “too ethnic” for mainstream society. Participants described their identity as dynamic and situational, frequently shifting between labels such as “Canadian,” “Asian Canadian,” or “bicultural.” This highlighted the importance of understanding identity as a performance negotiated through everyday interactions rather than fixed categories.
Additional findings from Jasmin Uppal’s project emphasized culturally responsive counselling strategies for South Asian women, focusing on navigating stigma, honour, and shame within patriarchal cultural frameworks. Such work underscores to the value of supporting culturally informed approaches that respect both traditional values and individual mental health needs.
The Careers in Psychology panel, featuring Alexandria Parsons, Daphnnie Flores, and Jack Chen, illustrated that career paths often do not follow linear or predictable trajectories. For example, Parsons described moving from psychiatric nursing aspirations and teaching to clinical supervision and private practice; Chen transitioned from psychology research to data science and workplace safety analytics. These narratives suggested that fostering flexibility, encouraging exploration, and acknowledging diverse roles can enhance career development services.
Part 2 coming soon.
Did You Know?
Life Strategies has been involved with a number of independent research projects from conceptualization, data collection/analysis, and dissemination. You can see several of our research endeavors and partnerships profiled at Projects.
If you have a research project you need support with, contact us.
