Social Service Worker

When a family is in crisis, a teenager is leaving care or someone is facing addiction, a social service worker is often the first steady voice they meet. Assiniboine’s Social Service Worker diploma is a two-year, 135-credit programme taught at the Victoria Avenue East campus in Brandon, with field practice built into each year.

Year one lays the groundwork with Psychology, Sociology, Life Cycle Development, Canadian Governments and Indigenous Perspectives, alongside the practice skills in Counselling Foundations, Fields of Practice, Interpersonal Communications, Writing & Documentation Skills and Technology in the Workplace. Year two applies these to complex situations through Child Welfare, Co-occurring Disorders, Trauma Informed Practice, Group Facilitation, Justice and Reconciliation, Social Determinants of Health, Social Policy, Non-Governmental Organizations, Women and Gender Studies and Professional Practice.

Field learning grows across the Social Service Worker diploma: Applied Field Practice 1 is a four-week, 145-hour practicum, and Applied Field Practice 2 is an eight-week, 290-hour placement in an agency, giving you 435 hours of supervised practice in total. Before placement you need a Canadian criminal record vulnerable sector check and child abuse and adult abuse registry checks, and the college notes that a criminal record may prevent completion. Graduates also complete SafeTALK, ASIST training and Mental Health First Aid, practical suicide intervention and mental health credentials valued by agencies, and the college’s articulation agreements can support transfer to further study.

Graduates are hired as community support workers, child and family services workers, addictions support workers, group home or youth workers, outreach workers and justice or probation support staff, in child and family service agencies, schools, food banks, resource centres, health centres and long-term care. The programme suits resilient, non-judgemental people who want to advocate for others.