Bachelor of Social Science (Honours) - Addictions and Mental Health

The Bachelor of Social Science (Honours) – Addictions and Mental Health is a four-year degree preparing practitioners for concurrent disorders work — where substance use and mental health problems occur together, as they usually do.

Coursework covers the neurobiology and psychology of addiction, mental health disorders and diagnostic frameworks, concurrent disorders assessment and treatment planning, counselling theory and practice, motivational interviewing and brief intervention, group facilitation, harm reduction philosophy and practice, trauma-informed care, pharmacology and medication-assisted treatment, cultural competence and Indigenous approaches to healing, crisis intervention, and program evaluation. Extended field placement runs in the final year.

The concurrent disorders framing is what makes the degree current. Treating addiction and mental health separately has been recognised as ineffective, and Ontario services are restructuring toward integrated care — creating demand for practitioners trained in both from the start.

Field placement requires a police vulnerable sector check and, in most settings, immunisation records and CPR certification. Students who cannot clear these cannot be placed, so arrange them early.

The work placement is a graded part of the program, so you finish with documented Canadian experience and a referee rather than only a transcript.

Humber Polytechnic — formerly Humber College — is Ontario’s largest public college and a Designated Learning Institution (DLI O19376943122). The Lakeshore campus sits on the shore of Lake Ontario in south Etobicoke, next to Colonel Samuel Smith Park, and is home to Humber’s business degrees, media and creative arts, and social and community services programs. Heritage buildings, a residence opened in 2024 and a free shuttle to the North campus make it the most distinctive of Humber’s sites.

Its field maps to CIP 51.1501 (Substance abuse and addiction counselling). Because this is a degree, graduates are exempt from the November 2024 PGWP field-of-study restriction that applies to college credentials. Full-time on-campus study and graduation remain the conditions, and IRCC makes the final decision.