Get the Details!
A 62-week online diploma in Child and Youth Services, with 160 hours on crisis response and 120 hours on leadership. No prior credential required to start.
62 Weeks
1,240 hours across sixteen courses, fully online
160 Hours
Crisis intervention and risk assessment, two sequenced courses
120 Hours
Leadership and mentorship, the
largest course in the program
No Prior Credential
Required to start. Vulnerable Sector check required for admission
You Already Do This Job. You Just Need To Get It Recognized.
You’ve been in the room for the crisis. You’ve built the relationships that make a group home or shelter function. Nobody handed you a script for any of it. You learned it on the job, and you’re good at it.
What you don’t have is the piece of paper that moves you off casual and into a role where that experience is actually recognized. According to the Government of Canada’s Job Bank (NOC 42201), a related college credential is usually required to move into these roles, though experience can serve as an alternative pathway for some.
This diploma is one of three recognized routes into this field. It’s the piece that’s been missing.
Who This Is For
This diploma is for people already working or volunteering with children and youth in a group home, shelter, youth center, or after-school program who have the experience but not yet the credential to move into a lead role.
It’s also open to anyone who has completed a Community Service Worker (CSW) or Community Developmental Service Worker (CDSW) program, as well as people entering youth work for the first time.
If you’re entering youth work for the first time, rather than already working in it:
This program teaches the practice and gives you the credential. It does not provide workplace hours, and in this field, hours count. If you are starting out, start building them alongside your studies by volunteering or engaging in relief and support work in youth-serving organizations.
This program is not a fit if:
- You cannot pass a Vulnerable Sector check
- You’re aiming to become a social worker, Registered Social Service Worker (RSSW), counselor, or therapist. This diploma doesn’t lead to those credentials
- You need a fixed timetable or classmates to stay on track
- You’d find it difficult to engage with course material covering drugs, depression, residential schools, discrimination, self-harm, exploitation, and youth justice in depth
What Experience Alone Doesn’t Teach You
You already have the instinct for this work. What you haven’t had is the method underneath it, and this program builds that in three parts.
The first is knowing what to do once a crisis is already happening: how to read the risk, keep everyone safe, and work through what happened after.
The second is learning to lead instead of just working a shift: how to mentor someone else, run a group, or build a program of your own instead of only working inside one.
The third is understanding why the young person in front of you got there in the first place: the systems, the history, and the circumstances that brought them to you, not just how to respond once they have.
The Numbers Behind the Program
This program is newly launched, which means you’d be joining one of the first groups to complete the curriculum. Support is available to guide you through the program, along with exact hours, named courses, and a full curriculum you can check for yourself.
CRISIS INTERVENTION AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION (80 HOURS):
Types of crisis, early warning signs, assessing severity and immediacy of risk, de-escalation, conflict resolution models, safety planning, and professional boundaries and self-care in high-stress work.
RISK ASSESSMENT AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT (80 HOURS):
Builds on the course above. Structured risk assessment tools for self-harm, aggression, and exploitation, safety planning, and post-crisis recovery and debriefing.
YOUTH MENTORSHIP AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT (120 HOURS):
Mentorship models, leadership styles, group facilitation, program planning and evaluation, and how to design and measure a youth leadership initiative. You’ll leave this course with your own leadership philosophy and a mentorship toolkit.
WORKING WITH AT-RISK YOUTH (100 HOURS):
Poverty, homelessness, family conflict, substance use, justice involvement, and how discrimination and systemic inequality produce risk.
YOUTH JUSTICE AND THE LEGAL SYSTEM (80 HOURS):
The Youth Criminal Justice Act, police discretion, court process, and restorative justice.
ADDRESSING CURRENT YOUTH ISSUES IN CANADA (80 HOURS):
Homelessness, poverty, systemic racism, and technology, through social, economic, and policy lenses.
INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVES IN CHILD AND YOUTH CARE (60 HOURS):
Residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, child welfare involvement, intergenerational trauma, and culturally safe practice.
| COURSE | HOURS |
|---|---|
| Introduction to Child and Youth Care | 60 |
| Child and Adolescent Psychology | 80 |
| Family Dynamics and Community Support | 60 |
| Crisis Intervention and Conflict Resolution | 80 |
| Mental Health and Addictions in Youth | 80 |
| Indigenous Perspectives in Child and Youth Care | 60 |
| Youth Justice and the Legal System | 80 |
| Special Needs and Inclusive Care | 60 |
| Child Development and Early Learning | 80 |
| Risk Assessment and Crisis Management | 80 |
| Child and Youth Advocacy and Policy | 60 |
| Working with At-Risk Youth | 100 |
| Understanding Youth Behavior and Intervention | 100 |
| Youth Mentorship and Leadership Development | 120 |
| Addressing Current Youth Issues in Canada | 80 |
| Capstone Project | 60 |
| Total | 1,240 |
- A leadership philosophy, developed by you (Youth Mentorship and Leadership Development)
- A mentorship toolkit (Youth Mentorship and Leadership Development)
- Advocacy plans, communicated to decision-makers and community partners (Child and Youth Advocacy and Policy)
How This Compares
| OXFORD COLLEGE CHILD AND YOUTH SERVICES WORKER DIPLOMA |
OTHER PRIVATE COLLEGE DIPLOMAS |
SHORT CERTIFICATES AND WORKSHOPS |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Credential | Diploma, 1,240 hours over 62 weeks |
Diploma | Certificate of completion |
| Scope | Sixteen courses, the whole practice |
Varies | A single topic |
| Dedicated crisis coursework |
Two courses, 160 hours, sequenced |
Varies | Hours to days |
| Leadership and mentorship |
120 hours, the largest course in the program |
Varies | Rarely covered |
| Cause and context |
320 hours across four courses |
Varies | Rarely covered |
| Schedule | No fixed schedule. Asynchronous, self- paced within the week |
Varies | Varies |
| Entry | No prior credential. Vulnerable Sector check required |
Varies | Usually open |
How It Works
This program is fully online and fully asynchronous, delivered through Canvas. There’s no fixed timetable and no cohort. You work through the material on your own schedule, within each week.
1,240 hours over 62 weeks works out to 20 hours a week. That’s the real, ongoing commitment. This program requires consistent, self-directed study week over week for over a year.
This program has no placement. Instead, you complete a 60-hour capstone project near the end of the diploma.
To apply, you’ll need:
REQUIREMENTS:
Intakes are continuous, and enrollment is available through any of our campuses. Campus selection is required at the time you apply.
Common Questions, Answered Honestly
“I’m already working full-time. I don’t have 20 hours a week.”
What makes this program possible for people who are already working is that it’s self-paced within each week, with no fixed class times to attend and no cohort to keep pace with.
You build the hours around your schedule, not the other way around. And because intakes are continuous, if the timing isn’t right for you now, you can always register later.
“What does it actually cost?”
It costs $20,100 in total: $18,500 in tuition and $1,600 in books. That covers sixteen courses and 1,240 hours of coursework, including 160 hours on crisis, 120 on leadership, and 320 on the context behind the work.
“Is there a placement?”
No. This program is theory-based, with a 60-hour capstone project in place of a placement. If you’re looking for supervised field hours as part of your training, this program doesn’t include them.
“Am I on my own in this?”
There’s no cohort and no fixed timetable. You work through the material independently, within each week, at your own pace.
“Will this actually get me anywhere?”
According to Job Bank (NOC 42201), a related college credential is one of three recognized routes into roles like youth worker, group home worker, and crisis intervention worker. This diploma is that route.
“There are no graduates yet. Why should that matter to me?”
The program is new, which means there’s no outcomes data to share yet, and it would be dishonest to imply otherwise. What you can evaluate instead is exactly what you’d study and exactly what you’d leave holding: the full curriculum, the hours, and the three pieces of work described above.
Your Next Move Starts Here
Whatever you’ve learned on shift, this program builds on it.
IT GIVES YOU A DIPLOMA BUILT AROUND CRISIS RESPONSE AND
LEADERSHIP, IN 62 WEEKS.
If this sounds like the door you’ve been waiting for, request more information and one of our advisors will walk you through it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not necessarily. According to Job Bank (NOC 42201), a related college credential is usually required, but experience can serve as an alternative pathway for some roles. This diploma is one recognized route in, not the only one.
A Vulnerable Sector Screening is a criminal record check specific to roles working with children and youth. It’s required for admission to this program, so it needs to be cleared before you can enroll.
No. This program is theory-based, with a 60-hour capstone project instead. If you’re looking for supervised field hours as part of your training, this program doesn’t include them.
It is 20 hours a week.
The program is fully asynchronous with no fixed class times, so you can study around a shift schedule. That said, 20 hours a week is a significant commitment on top of full-time or near full-time work, so it’s worth planning for realistically.
There’s no cohort and no fixed timetable. You work through the material independently, within each week, at your own pace.
Three pieces of work: a leadership philosophy and a mentorship toolkit, both developed in Youth Mentorship and Leadership Development, and advocacy plans developed in Child and Youth Advocacy and Policy.
No. “Social worker” and “social service worker” are protected titles in Ontario under the Social Work and Social Service Work Act, 1998, and only registrants with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers (OCSWSSW) can use them. This diploma does not lead to that registration. It prepares you for roles like youth worker, group home worker, and crisis intervention worker, working in social services, not for the protected title itself.
It costs $20,100 total, including tuition and books.
Guidance is available on student funding options.
Intakes are continuous, so there’s no fixed start date to wait for. Contact admissions for the next available intake.
This program is available to domestic students across Canada: Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and protected persons or Convention refugees. International students and other visa holders cannot enroll.