Advanced Diploma in Child and Youth Care George Brown Polytechnic (GBP) - St. James Campus, Canada

Prepare for a career supporting children, youth and their families in a variety of settings, including hospitals, group homes, treatment centres, and more, with the Child and Youth Care (C133) advanced diploma program. This three-year program is anchored in the values of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Ontario Association of Child and Youth Care Code of Ethics.

As a student in this program, you will learn to engage purposefully and effectively with children, adolescents and families.

The focus of CYC work is to support those who struggle with emotional, behavioural, and developmental challenges that impair their abilities to relate to others. The specific focus of this program is to recognize the impact of mental health challenges on children and youth and to design programs to support children and youth and their families.

As a student in this program, you will learn to translate theory into practice to move youth from potential risk to resilience.

You’ll gain practical experience with supervised field placements. In preparation for the field or clinical placement, students will be required to work in multiple small and large groups within classes and community settings.

Your Field Education Options
Field placement plays an important role in the Child and Youth Care program.

All placements will be matched in conjunction with the field placement co-ordinator and the CYC faculty. All placements require the completion of the ParaMed documentation (for example, medical and vulnerable sector check).  During the first year, students will learn foundational skills that they will develop as the course progresses. The subsequent academic courses come to life in a wide range of supervised field placements in the second and third years of the program.

Second-year students can expect to be in placement two days a week (winter semester), and third-year students can expect to be in placement three days a week over 28 weeks (including both the fall and winter semesters).

NOTE: To proceed to field placement, students are required to pass the prerequisite for placement CYCS 1015 – Field Preparation Seminar.

Program Learning Outcomes
The graduate has reliably demonstrated the ability to:

• Develop and maintain therapeutic relationships with children, youth and their families, respecting their unique life spaces, and applying the principles of relational practice to meet their needs.
• Assess the strengths, developmental and holistic needs of children, youth and their families, using methods grounded in theoretical frameworks, research and therapeutic practices, to develop care and intervention plans.
• Develop and implement care and intervention plans appropriate for the therapeutic milieu using evidence-informed practices and research to provide support for children, youth, and their families.
• Use equitable and inclusive approaches that are anti-colonial, anti-oppressive, anti-racist, and strength-based frameworks, as well as cultural humility, to create positive and sustainable solutions and respond to inequities and to systemic barriers experienced by children, youth and their families.
• Advocate for, and in solidarity with, children, youth, their families and communities through their participation in the development and implementation of care and intervention plans that uphold their rights.
• Employ communication, collaboration and relational skills with the inter-professional team and with community partners to ensure and enhance the professionalism of practice.
• Engage in self-inquiry, relational inquiry and critical reflection to develop strategies for learning and the practice of self-care, as a practitioner.
• Use professional development resources and supervision to increase professional capacity, learning and leadership skills.
• Adhere to relevant legislation and Child and Youth Care standards of practice, competencies, and codes of ethics as a practitioner.
• Practice in a variety of contexts and settings, respecting needs for developmental growth, safety, wellbeing and agency, while addressing the varying age and developmental ranges of children, youth, and their families.
• Employ crisis prevention and intervention techniques, and harm-reduction principles, with children, youth and their families in the provision of care, to ensure their safety, resolution of crises, and reparation of relationships.