Please Note:  The courses offered in the Child & Youth Care Practitioners program may include some readings, videos, and other content that some students may find intense and disturbing. We acknowledge that these courses may be difficult. Please pace yourself and create a learning space that gives you permission to take a break from the content in order to take care of yourself. We ask you to trust the process of this learning and know that all efforts have been put into these courses in order to ensure an atmosphere of mutual respect and sensitivity. If, for any reason, you struggle to the point of needing additional support, please reach out to a trusted family member, friend, or your faculty. We also suggest reaching out to Good2Talk at 1-866-925-5454 or Text GOODTOTALKON to 686868. Your mental health and wellbeing is important to all of us.

In the Child and Youth Care program, you’ll develop the knowledge and skills to advocate for children, youth and their families as you learn to encourage them to be more resourceful and to confidently use their voices.

This three-year Child and Youth Care program will examine the principles, philosophies and characteristics of relational child and youth care practice from child and youth-centred, developmental and ecological perspectives (1). It will also cover themes related to professional boundaries, child and adolescent mental health, psychology, counselling theories, crisis theory, intervention and counselling (group, individual, family), abuse, advocacy and anti-oppression.

As a graduate of this advanced diploma program, you’ll be ready to provide prevention and early intervention strategies, assessment, treatment, and counselling to children and adolescents who may be in crisis, struggling with psychological challenges, or who are dealing with other stressful situations. As such, you’ll become a valuable member of the mental health profession and use your knowledge and skills to provide life-changing support from a strength-based paradigm.

Child and youth care practitioners engage and work with children, youth and their families across a wide variety of settings, including community-based child and youth development programs, parent education and family support, school-based programs, community mental health, group homes, residential centres, day and residential treatment programs, early intervention, home-based care and treatment, private practice, psychiatric centres, rehabilitation programs, paediatric health care, child protection and youth justice programs (2).

This program will be delivered using a combination of modalities. Courses may be taught face-to-face, online or in a blended/hybrid combination of both online and traditional classroom teaching.