Diploma in Social Service Worker

at Loyalist College - Belleville Campus Canada

As a Developmental Services Worker (DSW), you will assist people with disabilities to live as valued, contributing members of the community. By providing support and advocacy, you will work towards full inclusion for the betterment of the entire community. The program curriculum promotes individualized and inclusive approaches, reflective of innovative practices in the field.

Experiential learning
Learn to effectively support people with developmental disabilities, physical disabilities, autism, and people with a dual diagnosis:

• Develop hands-on skills that will help people grow, develop relationships, and actively participate in their community.
• Identify and connect people to community opportunities and resources.
• Collaborate with people with disabilities to overcome barriers and promote full inclusion.

Apply theory in a real-world setting with three faculty-supervised field placements:

• Begin with four weeks in the second semester and increase to seven weeks, and then 12 weeks in the final semester.
• Work on-the-job three to four days per week, and bring those experiences back to the classroom to enhance your learning.
• Students have completed placements in residential programs such as Community Living and Pathways to Independence; public and private schools; adult education programs; and organizations in their home communities.

Get a well-rounded education in math, science, business and communication skills, not to mention the freedom to choose from an outstanding line-up of courses. Define your interests, opportunities and goals while earning credits you can transfer to future studies.

• Learn with a mix of group assignments, community projects and online class activities.
• Work one-on-one with a faculty advisor each semester to select electives suitable to you — go broad or specialize — it’s up to you.
• Choose from a wide range of electives, and explore opportunities you may not even know, with options as wide-ranging as human biology, computer applications, psychology, technology and humanity.
• Some electives are available online or offer virtual learning experiences, such as the Ecowalk.
• Gain work experience one day a week in your second semester.
• Expand your on-the-job experiences to two days a week in the third semester.
• Past placements include museums, art galleries, funeral homes, veterinary offices, long-term care facilities, schools and social service agencies.
• General Arts & Science (year two): After one year of vocational exploration, prepare for university studies during year two with a liberal arts university-focused diploma.

Not sure which career path to choose? Find the right fit before you commit. Sample a wide range of programs. Discover your strengths and new possibilities while developing practical skills you can apply to further your studies.

Experiential learning
Get a hands-on, creative introduction to media that will lead you to a career you will love:

• Balance your time between the lab and the classroom, working on a range of media-based projects.
• Get practical experience in design, visual and oral storytelling, media writing and presentation.
• Observe, practise and implement new skills each week, sampling a buffet of media and design-related activities.
• Work with cutting-edge technology in Loyalist’s Digital Media Centre.
• Get hands-on practise with video recording, Photoshop and state-of-the-art editing equipment.
• Learn from industry guest speakers and faculty in various programs

A certificate in Media Experience will prepare you for further studies at Loyalist. Explore your options while learning skills that can be applied in your chosen diploma program:-

• Broadcasting – Radio
• Interactive Media Development – Animation and Game Development
• Interactive Media Development – Film and Television Production
• Journalism – Communications
• Photojournalism

Help with personal care can mean the difference between people living independently and giving up their homes. The demand for personal support workers is greater than ever and keeps growing in order to meet the needs of a retiring population. Make a difference every day by helping people live with independence and dignity.

Experiential learning
In this hands-on program, you will learn to effectively support clients in their day-to-day activities, emphasizing trust, respect and individual choice:

• Learn in small clinical and lab groups under the guidance of experienced faculty.
• Practise monitoring and recording changes to clients’ conditions in Loyalist’s Human Simulation Lab with manikins simulating realistic scenarios.
• Learn from guest speakers about a wide variety of topics pertinent to supporting residents in long-term care and clients in their own homes.
• Learn how to shop for clients and provide nutritious meals on a balanced budget.
• Learn and practise skills in a virtual learning environment (VLE) as an avatar.
• Learning combines theory, laboratory practice and clinical placement all in the same week so students can apply what they’ve learned in a real-life setting.
• Students have completed placements with Belmont Long-Term Care Facility, Moira Place, Hastings Manor, EJ McQuigge Lodge, Trent Valley Lodge Nursing Home, Pine Meadow Nursing Home, Hastings Centennial Manor, Helen Henderson Care Centre Lodge, the Victorian Order of Nurses, Canadian Red Cross, ParaMed and St. Elizabeth’s Belleville.

Train for a career in the fast-paced and ever-changing automotive field with expertise that can be applied to motive power trades such as heavy equipment, small engine, marine, power sport, truck and coach and agricultural technician.

Experiential learning
Get a hands-on education that will prepare you for this trade:

• Learn by doing in Loyalist’s new state-of-the-art Bay of Quinte Skills Centre.
• Practise your skills on real vehicles and vehicle components in a safe learning environment.
• Gain practical knowledge of safe environmental practises and small business management.
• Enjoy extracurricular opportunities including the annual Show and Shine event, Drive to Survive, Santa Claus parade, Heels on Wheels, and the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas.
• SEMA has invited Loyalist students to participate in its student placement program for the past seven years – the only College Automotive program in Canada to participate in the program.
• Selected parts of the course content mirrors that of the three levels of the Automotive Service Technician Apprenticeship program.

Build on your knowledge and experience in the health care and social service fields with a two-semester post-graduate certificate. Gain the skills and attitudes necessary to provide a range of support to help clients, specifically the aged and the terminally ill and their families, live as independently as possible through the provision of compassionate care where quality of life is the primary objective and symptom control is the basis for care.

Experiential Learning
Through hands-on learning and an interprofessional health care team approach, gain the skills required to provide supportive care to clients who are experiencing physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioural challenges:

• Explore strategies for developing and maintaining therapeutic relationships with aged and palliative patients, thereby fostering their dignity, self-worth and independence.
• Learn how to effectively communicate with aging and palliative patients as well as with health care team members.
• Study how individuals cope with pain as well as appropriate measures for providing comfort and pain management to the terminally ill and their families within your scope of practice.
• Become familiar with ethical, legal and spiritual considerations with regard to the care of vulnerable populations, and develop an understanding of individual and multicultural approaches to aging, death, dying and grieving.
• Apply theory and concepts as related to caring for vulnerable populations and palliative patients through a combination of a clinical practicum and immersive simulation.

Art and Design Foundation offers a stimulating hands-on, studio based curriculum in which aspiring artist and designers learn a broad range of art and design disciplines. Traditional skills in drawing, painting, printmaking and sculpture are covered as well as a range of digital techniques and computer-based software, all of which contribute to the development of a quality portfolio.

Experiential learning

• Gain a balance of skills in fine art and design while exploring a variety of media.
• Grow and connect professionally while learning hands-on in small classes.
• Focus on both traditional art making techniques and digital media – including 3D printing technology.
• Earn valuable experience through professional workshops in a variety of art and design-related areas.
• Investigate a wide array of creative career pathways.
• Develop a broad-based portfolio that reflects flexible creative abilities, or build a targeted portfolio for further study.
• Design, curate and participate in an exhibition that brings together other Loyalist programs – an opportunity to gain recognition, enhance your portfolio and celebrate a dynamic creative learning environment.

Get on the road to success! The fast-paced, ever-changing automotive trade could be the perfect career for you. To become an apprentice, you must be registered with the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities and work for an employer who accepts full responsibility for your instruction in all aspects of the trade. Your in-class learning is completed at Loyalist.

Experiential learning

• Learn while you earn, with on-the-job training and education.
• Students in the Automotive Service Technician Apprenticeship program must be employed by a registered garage and signed on with the Ministry of Colleges and Universities (MCU) as an Automotive Service Technician Apprentice.
• Once you are employed and signed on with the Ministry, you will be notified when in-school training is available.
• Your apprenticeship requirements include completing a skill set book, 6,000 hours of on-the-job training and three levels of in-school training for a total of 720 hours.
• You can attend three full-time blocks of training, each eight weeks long, or study at Loyalist one day per week to complete your three levels.
• Learning combines classroom instruction and practical theory labs.
• Put your knowledge to the test in state-of-the-art service bays.

More and more, people are looking to make the most of their exercise experiences with workouts that get results and are engaging and fun. Qualified fitness and health professionals help people lead better, longer lives through healthy, active lifestyles.

Experiential learning
In this hands-on program you will develop confidence and expertise in designing and implementing fitness programs for both individuals and groups:

• Learn to accurately assess health and fitness levels, evaluate progress and develop exercise prescriptions tailored to meet the interests and lifestyle goals of every client.
• Train and teach in Loyalist’s newly renovated on-campus Fitness Centre and program-dedicated fitness lab.
• Gain applied knowledge of anatomy and physiology, kinesiology, exercise prescription, nutrition, chronic disease prevention and entrepreneurship and marketing.
• Network with guest speakers who are industry professionals in fitness and wellness.
• Assist and develop programs for personal training clients at the College.
• Earn 320 hours of industry experience in two field placements.

We share one planet. Bioremediation techniques can restore contaminated environments and reclaim them for farmland, wildlife habitats and the earth’s increasing population. Choose a career where you can make an impact.

Experiential learning
Prepare to get your hands dirty! Loyalist offers real-world learning for real-world problems — featuring extensive fieldwork and instruction with technologies of the future in the newly equipped Bay of Quinte Skills Centre:

• Sample natural environments and analyze environmental contaminants.
• Get hands-on experience in leading-edge environmental facilities, including well-equipped Field Biology and Instrumentation labs.
• Understand the underlying social systems that contribute to pollutants in water, soil and air.
• Learn to apply current legislation under the Environmental Protection Act.
• Applied project learning and field placements in the second and third years provide practical experience, preparing you for a smooth transition to the workforce with a wide range of skills.