The Child & Youth Worker program is designed to prepare students to provide frontline treatment service to emotionally troubled and disturbed children and youth. Students in this 2 year (74 week) program will receive specific education and skill development related to child management techniques, family support interventions, therapeutic relationships, designing treatment programs (for both individuals and groups) and working within multi-disciplinary teams. You will specialize in supporting change with children, youth and their families who are experiencing a range of social, emotional and behavioural challenges and implement a range of prevention, intervention and treatment strategies for children, youth and their families including crisis intervention, conflict management, problem solving, counselling, activity programming, and group work.
The practicum or work placement portion of the program can run concurrent with the other aspects of the program, or it may be completed at the end. It requires the student to participate in a supervised setting where best practices in Child & Youth Work is demonstrated, modelled and reinforced on a daily basis. Emphasis is placed on the application of the skills, professional ethics, attitudes and knowledge acquired in other areas of the program while dealing with children and families in real life situations.
Provided that it meets the requirements as established by KLC, your placement may be a volunteer position or a paid position, for example as an education assistant in a recognized education system. Students enrolled in the program will discuss the practicum portion with their supervisor to establish the suitability of the placement and to arrange mutually convenient times for visits.