Personal Support Worker Program (PSW) (C112)

Program Description

Leadership Claims

George Brown has been training Personal Support Workers for over 20 years.

Program Overview

George Brown College's Personal Support Worker (PSW) (C112) is a two-semester program that teaches students the skills required to provide or assist with personal care for the elderly, the chronically ill and persons with accessibility challenges. These patients may live in the community, in long-term care facilities or in select ambulatory care settings. Classes are held online and on-site at our state-of-the-art Daphne Cockwell Centre for Health Sciences located at the Waterfront Campus.

Full Description

George Brown College's Personal Support Worker (PSW) (C112) is a two-semester program that teaches students the full range of skills required to assist clients with their personal and household needs in order to ensure their comfort and safety.

PSWs provide or assist with personal care for:

  • the frail elderly
  • the chronically ill
  • people with physical disabilities living in the community
  • people in long-term care facilities
  • people in select ambulatory care settings
  • people in acute medical and surgical settings
  • people receiving palliative care

PLEASE NOTE: Public Health continues to recommend that people working with vulnerable communities be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Clinical agency partners continue to require students to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to be approved to complete clinical placements within their facilities. Agencies have the right to decline the placement of students who are not fully vaccinated, and students who are not vaccinated are at risk of not being able to complete their clinical placement course requirements. 

Courses focus on the skills and abilities needed to create a climate that promotes the optimal physical, social and emotional well-being of each client.

Your Field Education Options

As a student in the Personal Support Worker program, you will learn how to practice as a member of an interprofessional health-care team through a variety of clinical placement experiences. These experiences will include supervised placements in institutional and community settings, and an interprofessional Simulation Centre experience.

Please note: Faculty-supervised clinical practicums take place in various settings across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The clinical practicum experience may vary between day and/or evening shifts, depending upon the practice setting.

Career & Postgraduate Study Opportunities

Career Options

PSW graduates find employment at locations such as:

  • ambulatory care settings
  • long-term care facilities
  • residential and supportive housing
  • community support agencies
  • acute medical settings
  • palliative care settings

Educational Pathways

Personal Support Worker (C112) graduates who with to continue their education to enter the nursing profession and who meet all admission requirements may apply to George Brown College's PSW Pathway to Practical Nursing program (S119).

Alternately, PSW graduates who meet all admission requirements can apply directly to the Practical Nursing program (S121) program.

PSW graduates with an interest in working in long-term care facilities should consider applying to our Interprofessional Complex and Long-Term Care postgraduate certificate. This two-semester program teaches students to lead a team of interprofessional care professionals in complex and long-term care settings. The program is delivered online and includes a clinical field placement component. For details, visit the S417 program page.

"Upon graduating from the Personal Support Worker program at George Brown College, I can honestly say that my life is changed for the better. The course work was gruelling and the practical exhausting but I have never had such a great experience with a school. To your professors you are not just a student number, you are someone who could one day be taking care of family members and loved ones. The amount of time and effort my clinical instructor put into my education was unforgettable. Her care over my academic and emotional well-being will stick with me forever. George Brown College truly prepared me for a exciting future full of meaning."

Mira Glogauer
Ontario College Certificate

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