Admission Requirements and
Fees
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Student success in college requires well developed learning skills and attitudes (such as being able to work independently,
participate in a team, be well-organized, develop good work habits, and show initiative). These skills are as important as prior academic
achievement. Applicants should have thoroughly developed these skills and attitudes before beginning their college programs.
List of Courses
OUR PROGRAM
The Social Service Worker program, introduced in September 2004, is representative of the School of Social and Community Services’ long-standing commitment to innovation and responsiveness in the social services sector. This program develops the knowledge, value and skills of students that will allow them to work directly with a wide range of people in need. They also identify and act upon many of the systemic barriers that can impede access to social and economic justice in today’s society. Often they are a voice for people who are never heard. Students will examine the expanding professional roles and responsibilities of social service workers in large urban centres and within a rapidly changing society. Individuals interested in applying should have strong communications skills and a commitment to working in the helping professions with a wide range of individuals, groups and communities.
In addition to the theoretical models, methods and skills of social service work practice, you will receive training in group work, life skills methodology, community organizing and development. You will receive 750 hours of field experience supervised by qualified professional practitioners in two different placements. The College maintains relationships with well over 200 agencies operating in a wide range of community, formal, informal and international social service settings.
Many of the faculty have worked or are currently consulting with federal, provincial and municipal governments, hospitals, institutional health and social service organizations, as well as a range of small not-for-profit associations and agencies.
At George Brown College you will be well-prepared to work in diverse urban communities. You will develop the abilities to respond to individual and community issues of homelessness, poverty, substance abuse, mental health concerns, oppression, crisis and other determinants of health and areas of social justice. Family work, group facilitation, advocacy and proposal writing will be integral components of your program of study. The College’s history of preparing thousands of addiction and mental health workers is maintained within the SSW program through placements and courses in substance abuse and mental health.
Note: In compliance with requests from our student placement partners, all students in this program must have a police reference check completed before their field placement. These reference checks, which can take up to four months, are done to protect the clientele of these agencies, who are considered “vulnerable persons” under the law. The fees for the reference checks vary and must be paid by the student. Students are responsible for ensuring that the check covers appropriateness for “individuals being employed and/or volunteering who will be working with vulnerable person(s).” Students who are unable to provide a clear police reference check will be unable to complete their field placement and, therefore, be unable to complete the program.
CAREER PATHS
Graduates will have specific training in working with people with a range of issues related to mental health, addictions, homelessness, poverty, child welfare, criminal justice, settlement and other related personal, emotional or social issues. They may work directly with people in social services or be involved in community development or social justice and advocacy initiatives.
SKILLS AND APTITUDES
You may want to consider this career path if these terms describe you:
- Able to address your own biases and assumptions
- Respectful
- Empathic
- Mature
- Committed to social justice
- Willing to help others
FAST-TRACK OPTION - C135
This is a one-year full-time optionavailable to graduates of a baccalaureate program in disciplines such as psychology, sociology, women’s studies, environmental studies, education and cultural anthropology at a university, or to graduates of a college diploma program such as the following:
- Assaulted Women’s and Children’s Counsellor/Advocate
- Child and Youth Worker
- Community Worker
- Behavioural Science Technology
- Career and Work Counsellor
Successful completion of a 4-week bridging program in the spring/summer semester is required prior to entrance to the fall semester.
Additional fees will apply for the spring/summer semester.
For more information:
Call the George Brown School of Social and Community Services at 416-415-5000,
ext. 2185 or long distance 1-800-265-2002 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. E-mail
FURTHER OPPORTUNITIES
INTERNATIONAL PLACEMENTS
The George Brown School of Social and Community Services has been offering placement opportunities in Jamaica and Cuba for a number of years. This placement takes place between first and second year.
EDUCATIONAL
Graduates are eligible to apply for advanced standing at either Ryerson University or York University in Toronto, and at Hilbert College, a university in Hamburg, New York.
Graduates may complete a four-year degree program in Community Economic and Social Development at Algoma University. With a GPA of 3.0, graduates of the Social Service Worker program will receive two years’ credit toward this four-year degree at Algoma.
Graduates may apply to complete a second diploma in a related George Brown College program in a reduced time frame (e.g. the Community Worker program).
For further information on future study options, see transferguide.georgebrown.ca.
YOUR CAREER
Graduates will meet the educational requirements for registration as a Social Service Worker in the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers.
Graduates work in a variety of agency settings, including addiction and mental health services, residential group homes, day treatment programs, case management services, shelters, drop-in and community centres, family service organizations, hospitals, governmental and non-governmental services.
“The Social Service Worker program is another clear indicator of the School of Social and Community Services’ commitment to
evolve and respond to the changing needs of Toronto’s diverse communities. In consultation with the many community stakeholders, including
the College’s various service partners, this program has been designed specifically to address the unique needs of a wide range of
people living in a large urban centre. This program will continue to maintain and further consolidate the high standards of excellence, training
and expertise that graduates of our Human Services Counsellor program have been recognized for.”
William Gapen
Faculty and Community Consultant
B.A., B.S.W., M.S.W.
Social Service Worker program
Faculty Bio’s
Professor Maureen Boettcher, MSW
Maureen has been practicing and teaching in the social work field for 28 years. She began her career as social worker in child protection services in 1983. Maureen earned her MSW in clinical practice from the University of Calgary in 1988 and then joined a team of professionals providing treatment services to sexually abused children across Alberta and the Northwest Territories. She moved to teaching social work full time in 2004 when she became Manager of the Field Education Program at York University School of Social Work where she continues to teach part time. In 2009 Maureen joined the faculty of the Social Service Worker program at George Brown, where she now teaches full time.
Professor Chandra Budhu, M.Ed, Boston University Executive Leadership Program Diploma, Human Rights (CHRF) Certificate
Chandra has over 25 years of teaching experience, 13 of these in the Social Service Worker Program and the Community Worker Program at George Brown College. Chandra brings critical pedagogy, social justice and global perspectives to classroom engagement.
Chandra has over 20 years experience in international development, working with UN and Canadian-based international programs at macro and local community levels in India, China, Zambia, Sri Lanka, the USA, Guyana, the Caribbean Region and elsewhere on issues such as local government capacity, social cohesion, gender equity and renewable energy. As program director of the Beijing 1995 World Forum, she helped to bring global women’s input into the Beijing Platform for Action at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women. Equity initiatives in Canada include the Voluntary Sector Initiative on Visible Minorities in Canada, the Ministry of Attorney General’s Hate Crime Project in Ontario and the YWCA of Canada’s national campaign on Violence against Women. Voluntary contributions include: Chair: Lecture Series on Caribbean Development, York University; President: Canadian Women’s Foundation; Member: International Electoral Observer Mission with the Organization of American States; Chair: Women’s Funding Network, USA; President: Caribbean/African Self-Reliance International.
Awards include: George Brown College Award for “Living the Academic Strategy”, Diversity and Internationalization ; Scholarship to Boston University executive Leadership Program; Women Making a Difference, Heritage Toronto; Changing the Face of Philanthropy, Women’s Funding Network, U.S.A ; Recognition for Leadership, Canadian Women’s Foundation; 1993 New Pioneer Award, Skills for Change; Recognition for Community Services, The Body Shop, Canada.
Professor William R. Gapen (Bill), B.A., B.S.W., M.S.W.
Bill currently is a Professor with the Social Service Worker Program at George Brown College in Toronto, Ontario. He is also a part-time faculty member with the School of Social Work at York University and the Centre of Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. He teaches in the areas of mental health, addictions, developmental disabilities, social policy, social administration, and community development. He is well published in the area of dual-diagnosis (persons with a developmental disability and mental health needs) and in building community capacity through collaboration and partnerships. He has presented his work at conferences nationally and internationally and has consulted in Canada and the United States with developing community partnerships and support networks in social services. Currently he is the Director of Community Development and Education at Griffin Mental Health Centre in Toronto, Ontario. Recently he has been instrumental in helping to develop in Ontario the Griffin Community Support Network, Peel Crisis Capacity Support Network, York Region Support Services Network and Dufferin Crisis Community Support Network. All of these Networks are evolving crisis and transitional support systems for persons with serious mental health issues including various complex needs (e.g. dual-diagnosis, concurrent disorders, physical disabilities).
Professor Felice Markowicz, B.A. M.Ed
Felice has worked, taught and studied in the social service, counselling and education field for over 30 years. She has been a counsellor, academic advisor and professor at George Brown College for over 20 years. She has taught in both the Child & Youth and Social Service Worker programs. She graduated from the Special Care Counselling program at Vanier College in Montreal, Québec in 1979. She completed a Bachelor of Arts from York University majoring in Sociology in 1997 and a Master’s of Education from OISE/UT also, in Sociology in 2006. Her special areas of interest are in anti-oppression work and teaching from this perspective. She has developed many courses at George Brown including Intro to Sociology, Values, Ethics and Professionalism, Interviewing & Counselling and the Dynamics of Oppression. She was the academic advisor for the Schools of Social & Community Service and Deaf & Deafblind Studies for 3 years and as a result, was nominated for the College’s Student Service /Experience Award.
She is the National Coalition Building Institute – Canada’s Toronto chapter director and has been involved with anti-oppression, inclusion and building community work for over 20 years. She has designed, developed and facilitated hundreds of workshops specifically in the area of anti-oppression, internalized oppression, conflict, team building and staff development to meet the specific needs of many diverse groups resulting in development and growth for a wide variety of organizations. She is currently the coordinator of the program.
Professor Billie-Jean McBride, BASc, BSW, MSW, RSW
Billie-Jean McBride is a full-time Professor teaching in the Social Service Worker Program at George Brown College. Billie-Jean self-identifies as a First Nations woman who has worked extensively within the First Nations community including a specialization in permanency planning within Child Welfare. She had ongoing contact with both First Nations Bands and extended family members to ensure the rights of Aboriginal children in permanency planning. This work led her to extensive travel as she strove to place children in the care of the most appropriate families. Billie-Jean is one of a few social workers in Ontario who did customary care, kinship care, kinship service, legal custody, and adoption. Within the field of adoption, she completed a diploma from the University of Toronto post-graduate program, the Toronto Advancement Professional Education. Within the field of Child Welfare, Billie-Jean was actively involved in the designing of curriculum for OACAS specific to permanency planning. She has also managed within child welfare specific to Resources including both adoption and foster care departments. Another career focus was to work in the field of addiction, specifically with women who have histories of childhood trauma. Billie-Jean currently works within the Social Work field within a diversion program for individuals who have their first impaired charge or their first drug possession charge.
Professor Keith Nickson, M.A M.S.W. R.S.W.
Keith’s career covers journalism, counseling and teaching. He has edited medical magazines and published many freelance pieces in The Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail. In the community Keith worked as a counselor in several agencies, with youth at risk and adults with mental health challenges. In the mid-1990s, Keith began an eight year stint with Redirection Through Education (RTE) a George Brown program for adults with mental health and addiction issues. Keith and the RTE faculty launched the annual World Mental Health Day Conference that has run at George Brown annually since 1999. Increasingly fascinated with teaching, Keith has been a faculty lead on the SSW Student Success initiative, participated in two George Brown ESL projects in China and recently presented at a national conference of SSW professors in Thunder Bay, On.
Professor Rick Owens, B.A.(York), B.S.W.(York), M.S.W. (Toronto), M.Ed. (O.I.S.E.)
Rick joined the Social Service Worker Program as a full-time faculty member in time for the 2011-2012 school year. He has 25 years of experience in the field, having worked in youth justice, children’s mental health, developmental services, health and education settings, in positions ranging from the front line to senior management. He is also an experienced teacher and trainer, and has been a part-time faculty member at the School of Social Work at York University for more than a decade. Rick’s practice and research interests include critical social work, social work education and critical pedagogy, restorative practices, youth justice, treatment responses to sexual violence, and direct practice in mental health.
Professor Amber R. Stiebel, BSW, M.A.Ed.
Amber has been a full-time Counsellor and Professor at George Brown College for 20 years. She currently is an Advisory Board member of The Homestead (treatment centre for women), Florence Booth Shelter and Evangeline Shelter. She taught for several years in the Community Worker program and for the past seven years has been teaching a wide variety of courses in the Social Service Worker program, including Communicating and Interviewing Skills, Mental Health Policy and Practice, Substance Abuse Counselling Skills (Special Topics), and Values, Ethics and Professional Practice. Amber’s work experience includes counselling youth who were homeless, and teaching life skills and employment skills to a wide diversity of youth, including youth with developmental challenges. In addition, Amber has counselled single homeless women with mental health issues and substance abuse issues, as well as homeless single mothers and children, many that had come from domestic abuse situations and others that were new to Canada. Also, Amber worked as a group facilitator for men living with AIDS, and a counsellor and group facilitator for men recovering from heroin addiction.
Professor Natalie Wood, MA,
Natalie is a full time Professor teaching in the SSW Program at George Brown College. Her areas of interest are Community Development, Community Economic Development/ Social Purpose Enterprise, Research and Proposal Writing, Communication and Interviewing, Values and Ethics, and the use of the Arts as a tool for research and empowerment of marginalized communities. For over 20 years she has worked in a variety of positions both managerial and front line in the social services field with marginalized communities such as, adults with dual diagnoses, women with concurrent disorders, trauma and abuse survivors, and women with mental health issues who are living in long-term poverty. She is also a community researcher, working as an art consultant on projects related to homeless women and trans-women and new immigrants and their experience of work, with the Arts and Social Work Research Institute at the Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto. She has co-written a number of articles and presented nationally at conferences related to community-based and arts-based research in the social work field. Selected awards include a Community Based Research Award of Merit, from the Centre for Urban Health Initiatives & the Wellesley Institute 2007, the New Pioneers Award for contribution to Arts and Culture, 2006 and the City of York Civic Recognition Award for using the Arts to work with marginalized communities, 1997.
COURSES
SEMESTER 1
GSSC1109 Life Span Development
COMP1082 Computer Skills
LIFE1012 Life Skills I
SWRK1026 Canadian Social Welfare
SWRK1041 Preparation for the Field
SWRK1042 Values, Ethics and Professional Practice
SWRK1043 Group Dynamics
COMM1007 College English
SEMESTER 2
COUN1030 Communications and Interviewing I
LIFE1012 Life Skills I
SWRK1034 Working in a Diverse Urban Community
SWRK1035 Substance Abuse: Fundamentals in Policy and Practice
SWRK1036 Mental Health: Fundamentals in Policy and Practice
SWRK1037 Fieldwork Practice I
SWRK1038 Integrative Seminar I
GSSC1064 Introduction to Sociology
SEMESTER 3
LIFE1013 Life Skills II
COUN1032 Communications and Interviewing II
SWRK2085 Case Management
SWRK2052 Group Facilitation
SWRK2055 Special Studies in Mental Health and Substance Abuse
SWRK2075 Fieldwork Practice II
SWRK2076 Integrative Seminar II
GNED General Education Elective
SEMESTER 4
LIFE1013 Life Skills II
SWRK2054 Transition to the World of Social Service Work
SWRK2084 Traditional and Non-traditional Family Systems
SWRK2073 Community Development
SWRK2075 Fieldwork Practice II
SWRK2076 Integrative Seminar II
GNED General Education Elective
Note: Curriculum review in progress. Course titles may change without notice.
For more information,
Call the George Brown School of Social and Community Services at 416-415-5000,
ext. 2185 or long distance 1-800-265-2002 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. E-mail
For updated information
and course descriptions, call
416-415-2000 (TTY 1-877-515-5559) or long distance 1-800-265-2002.
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