Community Support Worker (co-op)

This course prepares students to build a solid foundation for academic success in post-secondary environments. Student Success Strategies is the perfect course for students who are new to the college environment and puts them at ease by preparing them well for high achievement and academic success.

In this course, students will begin their study of Microsoft Word, one of the most popular computer software applications and one that almost everyone has a reason to use. This course offers students the opportunity to use Microsoft Word to perform basic word processing tasks, such as writing a memo, a report, or a letter.

Students define interpersonal relationships and identify ways to distinguish among the different types. Students will learn to identify and describe the stages of relational escalation and de-escalation. Students will also be able to explain what occurs and how to respond when relationship expectations are violated. Workplace communication and family dynamics relative to communication are covered as well.

This course teaches students basic concepts and methods, as well as differing theories of child (early, middle) development. Students learn physical, sensory, and perceptual development in infancy and early childhood, cognitive development in infancy/early childhood and social and personality development in infancy and early childhood.

This course relates its content to the real world; students study and write a report on development in the real world. For example, students research and report on First Nations youth suicide crisis; social change and multicultural identity formation; youth criminal justice, the effects of video games, bullies and victims.

Students are taught to maintain a critical perspective on the various DSM diagnoses and the medical model as promulgated through the DSM. The field of social/community support work has a focus not just on the individual, but on the person within an environmental context, and concerns itself with strengths as well as problems.

Fundamentals of Poverty explores the impact poverty has on the individuals who must cope with it, as well as the impact on the community as a whole. Particular emphasis is placed on child poverty in Canada, as well as de-bunking myths and stereotypes about poverty.

This course employs a clinical case-based, life span approach with emphasis on the following: the strengthening of knowledge, skills, and concepts through comprehensive case studies, which include evaluation and treatment plans; the use of technologies to better understand communication development and to assess and treat disorders of communication; multicultural issues, focusing on the interactions among culture, communication ability, and communication disability and research-based practices in assessment and intervention.

This course introduces basic components of working with people–observation, assessment, communication, and intervention. Levine’s text, Working with People, presents an engaging discussion of the theoretical foundation of human service practice, promotes the development of practice skills, integrates the topics of advocacy throughout, and encourages community support worker students to be more reflective in their work.

This course is an introduction to applied behavior analysis; students will build upon what they learn from this course by reading their text and other sources. Students are introduced to basic concepts and principles of ABA, selecting, defining, and measuring behavior, and evaluating and analyzing behavior change. Reinforcement, punishment, and antecedent variables are covered, developing new behavior and decreasing behavior with non-punishment procedures are taught in-depth.

Designed to help students and new counselors acquire multicultural counseling competence, with an emphasis on indigenous populations, this course includes self-development opportunities for fostering awareness, knowledge, and the skills necessary for understanding cultural makeup, understanding others of diverse identities and experiences, and engaging in facilitative counseling relationships.

This course is intended to facilitate the journey of developing multicultural counseling competence with a focus on advocacy and empowerment. Students learn critical concepts necessary to become an informed advocate for multi-barriered individuals. Concepts such as: culture, cultural encapsulation, individualism and collectivism, race and ethnicity, generational status, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, disability, spirituality, privilege, oppression, and worldview will be discussed in-depth.

This course is an introduction to current ethical issues and ongoing ethical concerns in social work/community support practice. Students learn about major issues such as: issues of confidentiality, of informed consent, of client self-determination and the responsibility to protect, of concerns about the application of policies that don’t always fit every situation equally well, of value differences, and many others that continue to be major ongoing concerns in social work practice.

In this course, students are introduced to basic pharmacological concepts with specific emphasis and application of medication distribution and management. The course covers: legal obligations of distribution, and professional accountability. Students will learn critical concepts such as principles of drug interactions, pharmacokinetics-stages of drug metabolism, terminology and classification of drugs, mainly psychotropic agents.

This course focuses on the knowledge and abilities required for the process of career planning and development. Students will gain an opportunity to explore the Canadian labour market and recognize trends that may influence their future careers through thoughtful self-assessment, career exploration, planning and networking.