Embedded Files
Browse the categories below to explore all the courses being offered by OCASI
Browse the categories below to explore all the courses being offered by OCASI
Accessibility
Accessibility
We're excited to let you know that a new course is currently in development. The pilot phase will run from January to March 2026, allowing us to fine-tune and enhance the content. Stay tuned for more updates and details on how you can participate!
Course Coordinator - Tecla Namusonge - tnamusonge@ocasi.org
Anti-Black Racism
Anti-Black Racism
Understanding and Challenging Anti-Black Racism
Understanding and Challenging Anti-Black Racism
Frequency: Every 6 months (twice a year)
Description: This course aims to assist people working in the immigrant and refugee-serving sector understand how systems operate and how they create and manifest racism and anti-Black racism. By the end of the course, participants will be supported to develop new skills on how to be an inclusive and anti-racist leader and develop new ways to confront anti-Black racism.
Upon completion of this course, learners will be able to:
Deepen understanding of the impact of systemic racism on racialized communities (particularly Black communities) and employees and the significance of our roles as leaders in society;
Gain knowledge, skills and tools to increase capacity as a leader to address conflict pertaining to issues regarding race/racial tensions/racial conflicts; and
Develop an inclusive working and learning environment for racialized peoples.
Anti-Indigenous Racism
Anti-Indigenous Racism
Addressing Anti-Indigenous Racism in the Immigrant and Refugee-Serving Sector
Addressing Anti-Indigenous Racism in the Immigrant and Refugee-Serving Sector
Frequency: Every 6 months (twice a year)
Description: This course is specifically aimed at assisting newcomer and migrant people who work in the immigrant and refugee-serving sector to learn about the past and present-day experiences of anti-Indigenous racism experienced by the original peoples of this land now known as ‘Canada’.
Upon completion of this course, learners will be able to:
Articulate an understanding of the key historical occurrences that laid the foundation for anti-Indigenous racism in Canada.
Articulate an understanding of the ways in which anti-Indigenous racism is manifested in Canadian society today.
Critically reflect on the relationship, commonalities, and distinctiveness between Indigenous and racialized migrant people today.
Learn how to design and implement promising practices for addressing anti-Indigenous racism in the immigrant and refugee-serving sector.
Bridge to Employment Services
Bridge to Employment Services
Training for Employment Support Services (TESS)
Training for Employment Support Services (TESS)
Frequency: Every 6 months (twice a year)
Description: The TESS course is designed for service providers supporting newcomers in their employment journey. Through interactive learning, participants will explore key challenges, opportunities, and systemic barriers that impact migrant communities in the workforce.
By completing this course, participants will:
Develop knowledge, skills, and tools to provide high-quality employment services, support, referrals, and advocacy for immigrants, refugees, and all migrants
Gain a critical understanding of the broader issues affecting newcomer employment
Explore innovative and promising practices in employment services
Learn strategies to address barriers and create meaningful employment opportunities for newcomers
This course prepares learners to deliver practical, informed, and impactful employment-related support.
Gender Based Violence
Gender Based Violence
Understanding and Responding to Gender-Based Violence in Immigrant and Refugee Communities
Understanding and Responding to Gender-Based Violence in Immigrant and Refugee Communities
Frequency: Every 6 months (twice a year) - English and French
Description: This six-module online course is developed to help front-line practitioners working with immigrant and refugee communities to better understand issues of gender-based violence and develop a supportive response for survivors with intersectional identities.
Through this course, sector employees will:
-Explain the importance of using anti-racism, anti-oppression, and intersectional frameworks when supporting immigrants and refugees
-Recognize the signs and symptoms of violence specific to immigrant and refugee communities
-Identify and practice applying strategies for responding to disclosures of violence, taking into account the intersectional needs of diverse immigrant and refugee communities
-Name specific ways that frontline workers can support immigrant and refugee survivors of GBV at the individual and systemic levels, as well as through community engagement
-Outline practical strategies for front-line workers to practice self-care and community care as well as recognizing and avoiding compassion fatigue
Understanding and Responding to Sexual Violence in Immigrant and Refugee Communities Level 1
Understanding and Responding to Sexual Violence in Immigrant and Refugee Communities Level 1
Frequency: Once a year - English and French
Description: This five-module online self-directed course is developed to help front-line practitioners working with immigrant and refugee communities to better understand issues of sexual violence and develop a supportive response for survivors with intersectional identities.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
-Define sexual violence and describe its impact on diverse immigrant and refugee communities in Canada.
-Explain the importance of using an anti-oppressive framework when supporting survivors of sexual violence as well as practical strategies for applying this framework in your work.
-Outline the legal and social service supports available for people who experience sexual violence as well as systemic barriers experienced by racialized, immigrant and refugee women.
-Describe how to effectively respond to disclosures of sexual violence in ways that promote cultural safety and protect against victim-blaming.
-Identify and promote strategies for practicing selfcare; for preventing burnout, vicarious trauma, and compassion fatigue; and for advancing resilience at the individual and community levels.
Understanding and Responding to Sexual Violence in Immigrant and Refugee Communities Level 2
Understanding and Responding to Sexual Violence in Immigrant and Refugee Communities Level 2
Frequency: Once a year - English and French
Description: The purpose of this five-module online self-directed course is to help front-line practitioners working with immigrant and refugee communities to better understand issues of gender-based violence and develop a supportive response for survivors with intersectional identities.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
-Understand a feminist, anti-oppressive approach to sexual violence and harassment that incorporates intersectionality.
-Understand how structures and systems of power impact sexual violence and harassment. This includes an examination of how of how to recognize sexual harassment and violence and how to provide supports based upon a survivor’s unique experience.
-Be knowledgeable about responding to and supporting senior women, disabled women, LGBTQIA+ communities and women who have been trafficked, understanding that their experiences of sexual violence and harassment are distinct.
-Be knowledgeable about existing resources and supports appropriate for specific populations (senior women, disabled women, LGBTQIA+ communities and women who have been trafficked).
-Understand community-based responses and learn how to use them in your work.
-Have had the opportunity to reflect on their own role as frontline workers within the context of prevention of sexual violence and harassment.
Race, Gendered Violence, and the Rights of Women with Precarious Status
Race, Gendered Violence, and the Rights of Women with Precarious Status
Frequency: Once a year - English and French
Description: This 4-module course is developed to help front-line practitioners learn about how to better understand and meet the unique needs of women with precarious status, who are facing gender-based violence.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
-Use trauma-informed and anti-oppression frameworks when supporting survivors with precarious immigration status.
-Present strategies for assisting and referring racialized women with precarious immigration status.
-Practice supporting survivors in navigating the eligibility requirements for benefits and social services based on their immigration status.
-Understand the broader legislative context of service provision, including the role of Access Without Fear policies and privacy legislation in supporting survivors with precarious immigration status.
Solidarity Between Immigrant, Refugee and Indigenous Peoples - A Focus on Gender-Based Violence
Solidarity Between Immigrant, Refugee and Indigenous Peoples - A Focus on Gender-Based Violence
Frequency: Every 6 months (twice a year) - English and French
Description: This 5-module course, geared to settlement workers, shares the history, present-day experiences and information on gender-based violence relevant to the Original People of this land, in order to build solidarity among Indigenous and migrant people.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
-Acquire knowledge of the history and current-day experiences of the Indigenous Peoples of Canada
-Gain an understanding of the structural roots and nature of gender-based violence in relationship to Indigenous and two-spirited peoples
-Recognize commonalities and differences of experiences of GBV of Indigenous and racialized migrants in Canada.
-Develop skills to promote solidarity between migrant and Indigenous Peoples in the context of providing settlement services
Postitive Spaces
Postitive Spaces
Creating Positive Spaces for LGBTQIA+ Newcomers (Level 1)
Creating Positive Spaces for LGBTQIA+ Newcomers (Level 1)
Frequency: Every 6 months (twice a year)
Description: Creating Positive Spaces for LGBTQIA+ Newcomers Level 1 focuses on building the knowledge and skills of front-line practitioners working with immigrant and refugee communities to better understand issues that LGBTQIA+ newcomers are facing. This course provides participants with an interactive way of learning and discussing ways to address oppressive incidents occurring against LGBTQIA+ service-users and service-providers, and enables participants to do so alongside fellow service providers from across Ontario.
Creating Positive Spaces for LGBTQIA+ Newcomers (Level 2)
Creating Positive Spaces for LGBTQIA+ Newcomers (Level 2)
Frequency: Every 6 months (twice a year)
Description: Creating Positive Spaces for LGBTQIA+ Newcomers Level 2, which is supplementary to Creating Positive Spaces for LGBTQIA+ Newcomers Level 1, provides tactical and practical tools to address LGBTQIA+ newcomer issues and reviews organizational change strategies to more effectively serve LGBTQIA+ newcomers within the immigrant and refugee serving sector.
Serving Newcomer Communities
Serving Newcomer Communities
Serving Youth in Newcomer Communities (SYNC)
Serving Youth in Newcomer Communities (SYNC)
Course Coordinator - Tarana Sultan - tsultan@ocasi.orge
Frequency: Every 6 months (twice a year)
Description: The SYNC course is designed for service providers across Ontario who work with newcomer youth. Through interactive modules, participants will explore essential foundational concepts using an anti-oppressive, youth-centred, and trauma-informed approach.
By completing this course, participants will:
Unpack personal biases and engage in self-reflective practice
Develop interpersonal and professional skills to support diverse newcomer youth communities
Critically analyze the systems that impact newcomer youth and contribute to barriers or trauma
Strategize interventions that address systemic barriers and empower youth
Design programming that prioritizes youth voices and responds to community-identified needs
This course equips participants with the knowledge and tools to create meaningful, youth-centered support systems.
Settlement in Ontario
Settlement in Ontario
Foundations of Settlement Work Level 1 (FSW Level 1)
Foundations of Settlement Work Level 1 (FSW Level 1)
Frequency: Every 6 months (twice a year)
Description: The FSW Level 1 course explores the history of colonization and immigration to Ontario, the policies and laws that have shaped who lives on these lands, and the programs that facilitate immigration, refugee protection, and temporary entry into Canada. It provides a foundational understanding of the settlement sector and the broader context of working with immigrants and refugees in Ontario.
By completing this course, participants will:
Be familiar with Canada’s history as a settler-colonial state and its impact on immigration and settlement.
Understand how historical and political trends have shaped Canadian immigration policies and demographics.
Be aware of the various immigration pathways, including programs for economic immigrants, family sponsorship, and temporary workers.
Understand Canada’s refugee protection system and the challenges faced by asylum seekers and individuals with precarious status.
Reflect on how immigration history and policy influence their work as settlement professionals.
This course serves as a foundation for understanding settlement work, with Level 2 building on these concepts to explore the sector and professional practices in more detail.
Foundations of Settlement Work Level 2 (FSW Level 2)
Foundations of Settlement Work Level 2 (FSW Level 2)
Frequency: Every 6 months (twice a year)
Description: The FSW Level 2 course explores how migration and forced movements are shaped by colonialism, neocolonialism, racial capitalism, inter-state and intra-state conflicts, and climate change and how race, gender, sexuality, and class determine the experiences of migrants and refugees. It also discusses the structural and psychosocial barriers newcomers face in Canada, the broad range of services and support systems available, and various tools useful for settlement workers to deal with their mental well-being.
By completing this course, participants will:
Reflect on the underlying historical, political, and environmental factors shaping the nature and scale of migration and forced movements
Understand the idealized expectations that newcomers might have before they arrive in Canada and the realities they face after their arrival
Identify the multi-layered economic, social, and psychological challenges that newcomers encounter in Canada and the commensurate support services that they can access to
Understand the history, objectives, responsibilities, services, and funding sources of settlement organizations in Ontario
Familiarize themselves with trauma and violence-informed approaches to supporting their clients, acquire tools useful for de-escalation and conflict resolution, and understand how to take care of their mental wellbeing and prevent burnout
Trauma And Violence Informed Approach
Trauma And Violence Informed Approach
Trauma and Violence Informed Approach
Trauma and Violence Informed Approach
Frequency: Every 6 months (twice a year) - English and French
Description: This self-directed online course will provide settlement workers and social service providers with opportunities to learn fundamental principles, basic concepts and evidence-based approaches to serve people with experiences of trauma and violence. It will also provide opportunities for learning about self-care, and organizational and community building to address vicarious trauma and systemic trauma and violence.
Key Objectives:
-Define trauma, violence, and trauma and violence informed approaches (TVIA)
-Identify signs and symptoms of trauma when working with immigrant and refugee communities
-Apply principles of TVIA into practice
-Analyze the impacts of vicarious trauma and develop strategies for self-care
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