Diploma in Social Service Worker

Program Overview

The Centennial College Social Service Worker program will prepare you to be a critical practitioner, advocate, problem solver and agent of social change as you examine the expanding professional roles and responsibilities of social service workers within a rapidly changing society.

As a Social Service Worker student, you'll develop the knowledge, skills and values to support diverse individuals, families, groups and communities to enhance their individual and collective well being. 

This two-year college diploma program will integrate the principles, philosophies, skills and theories of social service work from an anti-oppressive and social justice framework. Themes related to professional competencies, group dynamics, interprofessional practice, interpersonal communication, counselling, community development, advocacy, social movements and social policies will be examined. Through critical thinking and reflective practice, meanwhile, you'll identify how values and ideologies contribute to the construction of social problems and solutions.

As a graduate of the Social Service Worker program, you'll meet the educational requirements for registration as a social service worker in the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers (OCSWSSW).

Program Highlights

• The Social Service Worker program curriculum is reviewed on an annual basis to ensure courses are current, relevant, and based on evidence-based research and best practices in the field.
• Program faculty members are all trained in social service work and social work practice, and have extensive knowledge, expertise and field experience.
• During your two years in the program, you'll have the opportunity to obtain a Stackable Certificate in Indigenous Studies: First Peoples in Canada. 
• Two specialized field placements will provide you with valuable opportunities to integrate classroom learning, knowledge and skills in professional practice. Facilitated two days per week in the third semester and four days per week in the fourth semester, these experiences may include a variety of settings (governmental services, community centres, settlement agencies, social service agencies, shelters, residential group homes, employment counselling agencies and educational institutions, among others).
• As a Social Service Worker student, you'll have the opportunity to apply for an international field placement in your final semester. The program has a history of strong partnerships with global organizations.
• Learning experiences will include community engagement, developing and writing funding proposals, social action plans as well as simulated client interviews and assessments.
• You'll have the opportunity to engage in interprofessional collaboration and practice with other programs within the College community, such as Early Childhood Education, Police Foundations, Community and Justice Services, and Nursing.

Successfully completing the Social Service Worker program will give you the ability to:

1. Develop respectful and collaborative professional and interpersonal relationships that adhere to professional, legal, and ethical standards aligned to social service work.
2. Record information accurately and communicate effectively in written, digital, verbal and non-verbal ways, in adherence to privacy and freedom of information legislation, in accordance with professional and workplace standards.
3. Integrate a practice framework within a service delivery continuum, addressing the needs of individuals, families and communities at micro, mezzo, macro and global levels, and work with them in achieving their goals.
4. Plan and implement accessible and responsive programs and services, recognizing the diverse needs and experiences of individuals, groups, families and communities, and meeting these needs.
5. Examine current social policy, relevant legislation, and political, social, historical, and/or economic systems and their impacts for individuals and communities when delivering services to the user/client.
6. Develop strategies and approaches that support individual clients, groups, families and communities in building the capacity for self-advocacy, while affirming their dignity and self-worth.
7. Work from an anti-oppressive, strengths-based practice, recognizing the capacity for resilience and growth of individuals and communities when responding to the diverse needs of marginalized or vulnerable populations to act as allies and advocates.
8. Develop strategies and approaches to implement and maintain holistic self-care as a member of a human service profession.
9. Work with individuals, groups, families and their communities to ensure that service provider strategies promote social and economic justice, and challenge patterns of oppression, discrimination and harassment, and sexual violence with clients, coworkers and communities.
10. Develop the capacity to work with the Indigenous individual, families, groups and communities while respecting their inherent rights to self-determine, and to identify and address systemic barriers that produce ill-effects, developing appropriate responses using approaches such as trauma informed care practice.
11. Develop creative approaches to social service work practice that meet social enterprise objectives and the needs of a changing workforce.