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Child and Youth Care Worker

If you have always had a passion for youth and youth issues, Holland College offers a meaningful and challenging opportunity to convert this passion into a rewarding career. An intensive, professional level program, the Child and Youth Care Worker program offers students skills-oriented training to equip them to help children and adolescents and their families in coping with personal and daily living problems.

Many young people are burdened with neglect, abuse, emotional distress, family dysfunction and failure in many domains of their life. These burdens are displayed in social, emotional or behavioural problems surfacing in the family, the classroom and the community. The trained youth worker strives to work with the youth and their family by means of a supportive relationship to overcome these difficulties and obtain a more satisfying level of functioning and personal competence.

This accelerated program is designed to prepare the motivated and mature individual for a career working with a wide range of troubled youth. The youth worker is educated to recognize and address the social and emotional needs of children and adolescents and is also concerned with the total individual, his/her family, education and rehabilitation. A strength-based philosophy committed to creating competence in youth is the cornerstone of the program curriculum.

On-the-job training is a major component in the education of the Youth Worker student. It provides concentrated practice and supervision in which the learner can develop and learn the essential practical skills of helping children and youth.

Areas of Competency

Click here to view the Course Outline.

Graduate Opportunities

Youth workers provide a wide range of support services to children and their families in a variety of settings. Employment opportunities exist within the following settings:

• Government or private agencies
• Crisis assessment centres
• Young offender facilities
• Residential treatment programs
• Group homes
• Schools
• Day programs
• Various community-based, youth-oriented programs
• Family preservation programs

Since the start of the program in 1986, graduates have been highly regarded in the youth care field and have been hired throughout Canada and the United States.

Program Operation

The program includes a thorough examination of child and adolescent development, young offenders, emotional and behavioural disorders, counselling techniques, assessment and case planning, behavioural management strategies, group dynamics, child care practices, activity programming, crisis intervention and case recording. Learners must integrate theory and actual practice by working directly with children and adolescents throughout the 10 months of the program. Learners are required to complete four practicums during the span of the program:

• 5 day observational visit at a residential facility
• 12 weeks, full-time block placement
• 12 weeks conducting a skills based group in a school setting
• 6 month assignment working one-on-one with a client, 4 hours weekly outside of the classroom schedule
• Students must attain 75% in all of the theoretical courses offered in the program

Admission Requirements

• Grade 12 or equivalent with credits at or above the general level
• Grade 12 academic English (minimum 65%)
• University credits in psychology and sociology and/or post-secondary diplomas or degrees will enhance application
• Candidates must be out of high school at least one year before applying to this program due to the nature of the work and the age range of the clientele serviced by a child and youth care worker
• Two letters of reference, one personal and one from an employer
• A Police Records Check
• A minimum of 250 hours paid work or volunteer experience with youth prior to applying
• Current CPR - Basic rescuer Level C and a Standard First Aid certificate from a recognized First Aid/CPR Trainer prior to June 30th. The Occupational Health and Safety Division of P.E.I. will provide a list of current recognized First Aid/CPR Trainers.
• Completion of a program questionnaire
• Interview by College staff
• Completion of a written assignment at the interview
• Resume including work and volunteer experience with applicable dates, membership in groups, associations or athletics, awards and distinctions, and any other information about yourself relevant to the program to which you are applying.

If you have any questions concerning the Child and Youth Care Worker program, contact: mbmacmillan@hollandc.pe.ca