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

The Child and Youth Care (Accelerated) (C153) advanced diploma program will teach you to support at-risk children, youth and families by developing therapeutic skills and abilities. Over the course of 12 consecutive months (three semesters), you will learn how to build therapeutic relationships with clients and collaborate with a professional team as you develop skill sets to create a professional identity as an agent of change.

This accelerated program stream is a condensed version of the three-year Child and Youth Care (C133) program.

The scope of child and youth care (CYC) practitioners includes the following:

• Assessing risk and developmental needs of vulnerable children and families
• Designing and implementing therapeutic intervention
• Crisis intervention and safety planning with children, youth and their families
• Developing therapeutic relationships within challenging contexts
• Applying group and systems theories in physical and social settings
• Fostering resilience and applying a strength-based approach to assessment and intervention

In preparation for the field or clinical placement in the Child and Youth Care (Accelerated) program, you will be required to work in multiple small and large groups within classes and community settings.

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.