Diploma in Social Service Worker Sault College - Ste. Marie Campus, Canada

Are you interested in being part of a profession that works to improve the lives of individuals, families, groups and communities? Are you ready to learn through classroom and hands-on field placement experiences? Join us in the Social Service Worker program to develop your knowledge and skills to assume the challenging and rewarding role of a helping professional.

The core skills that you will learn in the program involve taking strengths-based, ethical, problem solving approaches that promote social justice and social well-being. You will develop strong interpersonal, group and community capacity building skills that will enable you to provide support to individuals, groups, families and communities. You will gain an understanding from a social work perspective of the needs and strengths of diverse populations, and barriers to meeting these needs. You will learn theories that are based on an anti-oppressive approach to social work, and that involved empowerment and systems based approaches. You will expand and deepen your understanding of the multiple factors involved in both creating and addressing social inequities. Throughout the second year of the program you will experience approximately 500 hours of agency field placement which provides the opportunity to apply classroom learning within a community based organization.

Program Outcomes
A graduate of the Social Service Worker Program at Sault College will reliably demonstrate the ability to:

• Develop respectful and collaborative professional and interpersonal relationships that adhere to professional, legal, and ethical standards aligned to social service work.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Develop strategies and approaches to implement and maintain holistic self-care as a member of a human service profession.
• 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.
• 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.