Social Service Worker

When a family is facing eviction, addiction or crisis, a social service worker is often the first person who helps them find a way forward. Cambrian College’s Social Service Worker is a two-year Ontario College Diploma of four semesters at the Barrydowne campus in Sudbury that prepares you for front-line helping roles in community agencies.

Semester one introduces Foundations of SSW, Helping Skills I, Communication and the Self I, Principles of Psychology and Indigenous Perspectives. Semester two continues with Helping Skills II, Communication and the Self II, Ethics, Community Development, Speaking/Writing Comm. Services I and Field Seminar I. In semester three you study Social Service Work and the Law, Helping Skills III, Group Dynamics, Family Dynamics and Field Seminar II. The three Helping Skills courses and two Communication and the Self courses together build the self-awareness and interviewing skills that social service work depends on.

Fieldwork is the backbone of the programme: a first placement in the final weeks of semester two, then Field Work, which fills the whole of semester four from January to April in a community organisation. Field Seminar I and II connect what you see on placement with classroom theory. Before placement you need a vulnerable sector check, updated vaccinations, First Aid CPR (HCP) and WHMIS. Graduates can fast-track into Cambrian’s Developmental Services Worker or Child and Youth Care diplomas or its Honours Bachelor Applied Psychology, or continue into the Addictions and Mental Health or Community and Health Services Navigation graduate certificates.

Graduates work as social service workers, shelter workers, housing support workers, community outreach workers, income support caseworkers and youth support workers. The programme suits empathetic, resilient people who can stay calm in difficult conversations, respect clients’ own decisions and want to work for social justice at the community level.