Courses
Semester 1
- Aboriginal History and Culture GNED0049
Units/ Hours: 45
This course focuses on the study of First Nations peoples in the Americas (Turtle Island), from a First Nations perspective. Study will encompass the historical, cultural, and political realities of aboriginal America. This course will respect the oral traditions of First Nations peoples as much as possible.
- College Communications for the Helping Professions COMM0079
Units/ Hours: 37
This first semester course will introduce students to the essential communication skills required to be successful in their chosen post-secondary program. These skills include reading, writing, speaking, listening and critical thinking. Through a series of written assignments, in-class discussions based on readings, and lab activities, students will improve their overall communication skills. Students of COMM79 will engage in a series of activities and assignments designed to provide the essential language skills required for academic success.
- Counselling Skills I COUN0055
Units/ Hours: 45
This course provides students with an overview of introductory theory and skill pertaining to the helping relationship process. Specifically, this course emphasizes the collaborative nature of the helper-client relationship and uses a practical helping model that integrates problem-management and an opportunity-development approach to effective helping. As a foundation for the next two levels of counselling-specific courses, students will develop basic counselling skills using a Problem Management and Opportunity Development perspective and evaluate their own strengths and challenges that impact upon their roles in the helping profession.
- Human Growth and Development SOCI0025
Units/ Hours: 45
This course is designed to give the student a basic understanding of the normal patterns of growth and development at various stages within the life cycle from infancy through to old age. The major theories of development will be examined to enhance understanding of this field of study.
- Introduction to Social Service Work Theory and Practice COUN0017
Units/ Hours: 30
This course introduces students to the scope and dimensions of social service organizations, delivery, and practice within Ontario. Students will receive an overview of the North American history of social service work. There is specific emphasis on the variety of roles that social service workers fill within the generalist framework of social services. Theories that influence and are used in social service work practice will be examined to prepare students for their future studies in the program.
- Introduction to Social Welfare COUN0056
Units/ Hours: 30
This course examines the impact of economic, labour, employment and trade practices on the development of welfare services and social legislation in Canada. It covers topics including the role of women in society, issues of poverty and inequality as well as the development of income security. The course also critically examines the past and future of Social Service Work and Social Work as professions that have played and will continue to play an important role in developing social welfare policy and practice.
- Introductory Computing COMP0345
Units/ Hours: 45
Working in the Windows environment, this computer course introduces you to computer basics (computer terminology, e-mail, file management) and the application and use of word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software using Microsoft Office. Through the extensive use of hands-on activities, you will gain sufficient knowledge and experience to make productive use of computers as a tool in both college and workplace environments.
- Power, Privilege and Oppression SOCI0165
Units/ Hours: 45
This course is designed to create a learning opportunity for students to increase their awareness and capacity to critically analyze the various forms of oppression. Students will be introduced to theory and practical applications, this course will provide the foundation for understanding how to work successfully with marginalized populations.
Semester 2
- ASIST - Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training COUN0064
Units/ Hours: 15
Applied Suicide Intervention Skills (ASIST) provides practical experience to students who are interested in helping people who are at risk for suicide. This course is delivered over two consecutive days in a workshop-type format. Students develop skills through observation and supervised simulation experience in large and small groups.
- Case Management COUN0058
Units/ Hours: 30
The course will provide students with the case management skills required to co-ordinate and provide direct services to a variety of client populations from an ecological/empowerment model. This includes the roles and responsibilities assumed by case managers such as information gathering, assessment, intake interviewing, service planning, case monitoring, documentation, advocacy and being a social change agent. This will require the application of numerous skills learned in earlier courses in the social service worker program. Students will also learn their own strengths and areas of development in relation to their role as a case manager as well as self-care strategies.
- Communicating at Work for the Helping Professions COMM0146
Units/ Hours: 45
Successful communicators use knowledge, skills and strategies to create effective messages for a range of audiences and contexts. This course emphasizes critical thinking and problem-solving to meet communication challenges in today's workplace. Students will refine workplace writing, communication skills and presentation techniques through a variety of assignments, assessments and hands-on practice.
- Counselling Skills II COUN0057
Units/ Hours: 45
This course examines several theories of counselling integral to the practice of Social Service Work and addresses how each of the theories applies in the field. Students will use and build upon skills from Counselling I and move towards the application of theory in this second counselling skills course. This application will be provided through such activities as role playing, audiovisual demonstrations, case studies and presentations. Particular emphasis will be placed on family, post-structural and cognitive/ behavioural theories as major frameworks used in the field. By the end of the course, students will begin to articulate a theoretical framework that fits with their personal strengths and values.
Pre-Requisites
- Preparing for Field Work I FLPL0064
Units/ Hours: 30
This beginning fieldwork course will introduce students to a variety of employment or placement readiness information and skills that are relevant to the social services field. This includes identifying differences between moving from the college and to the professional social services culture. In addition, through a placement/job club format, cover letters, resumes and portfolios will be reviewed and a concentration on gaining further professional skills through training will be emphasized. It is strongly recommended that students complete or are in the process of completing the 200 relevant volunteer hours during this course.
- Program Design and Development COUN0031
Units/ Hours: 45
This course will provide social service workers with a range of general methods of importance to social administration. These can include both administrative and personal strengths in data collection, research, independent problem solving, planning and goal setting, budgeting and finance, grant seeking, proposal writing and fundraising, team building and participation, intervention, evaluation, and termination. This course provides a base of theoretical knowledge in such subject areas integrated with experiential and group interaction in designing and developing an actual program.
- Social Justice and Diversity COUN0020
Units/ Hours: 45
Social Justice and Diversity provides the emerging professional with an opportunity to reflect upon social, economic, cultural and political issues within the diverse communities in which live and work. The student will be able to consider the relationship between the subject matter and one's understanding of social action. We continue to look at the questions regarding the impact on society, as well as the underlying problems that professionals and clients deal with on a daily basis and how this moves us to a place of greater appreciation while striving for social justice.
- General Education Elective
Course Number: GENED
All graduates of diploma programs require general education credits. These courses allow you to explore issues of societal concern by looking at the history, theory and contemporary applications of those issues.
Your program has designated some required general education courses. In addition, you have the opportunity to choose from a list of electives each semester.
Many of these courses and some other general education courses are also available through evening classes, by distance education, or on-line. See our Part-Time Studies Calendar for these opportunities.
You may already possess general education equivalencies from other colleges or universities. Please see the General Education Co-ordinators at the Peterborough and Lindsay locations for possible exemptions.
See this page for a list of approved General Education Courses at Fleming College.
Semester 3
- Community Organizing COUN0060
Units/ Hours: 45
The graduate Social Service Worker often works within a community advocating for change that promotes both social and economic justice. Various models of community development exist at the local, regional or international level to empower and promote positive social change and contribute to building the capacities of communities. The course looks at ways to determine community needs, risk and assets and develops skills for engagement in community strategies for inclusion, equality, equity and participation in decision-making.
- Counselling Skills III COUN0062
Units/ Hours: 45
This final counselling skills course is designed to provide the learners with the theory and interventions of key contemporary brief approaches for interventions. Solution-Focused Counselling (SFC) and Motivational Interviewing (MI) lend themselves well to settings where the work is time limited and where individuals are reluctant or ambivalent to change. A review of the features of these counselling approaches is provided, as well as an examination of the similarities and differences on several dimensions of counselling. Attention is given to empirical research, and it is proposed that SFC and MI be used concurrently, which appears consistent with calls in the literature for theoretical integration.
Pre-Requisites
- Group Theory: Models and Dynamics COUN0066
Units/ Hours: 30
This course explores theories and models of group intervention, with special emphasis on developmental stages of group and their application to work in the social service field. Group dynamics, process and goals will be explored. The nature of therapeutic, educational and self-help groups will be considered. This course provides students with an opportunity to further develop group facilitation and leadership skills. This course is designed with the belief that students can best develop the necessary skills by participating in an authentic group process. To this end, students will be actively engaged in a group process in order to integrate theory with practice.
Pre-Requisites
- Knowledge, Values and Ethics for Social Service Workers COUN0065
Units/ Hours: 45
This course assists the learner to understand and discern how to thoughtfully respond to the challenges of ethical decision making while dealing with the complex issues emerging from the Social Service Worker field. Students will gain an understanding of the Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice as outlined by the Ontario College of Social Service Workers.
- NVCI for Social Service Workers COUN0059
Units/ Hours: 30
For more than 25 years, the Crisis Prevention Institute has supported the work of professionals who work with challenging or potentially violent individuals by providing a relevant, practical behaviour management program. It's called the Nonviolent Crisis Intervention? training program and those participating in this program learn how to resolve or deescalate conflict at the earliest possible stage.
- Preparing for Fieldwork II FLPL0066
Units/ Hours: 30
This second fieldwork course will build on the first course with a concentration on providing a supportive setting wherein students will be assisted in designing their own learning plan and selecting a preferred field practice setting. Additional responsibilities will include negotiating appropriate field practice responsibilities, receiving approval for the field practice setting from faculty, and completing various paperwork requirements. Finally, issues specific to field placement will be explored and scenarios practiced, including the use of appropriate boundaries, office politics, stress management, and cultural diversity. Students also must complete the 200 hours of relevant volunteering in order to pass this course and continue on to a placement.
- Responding to Intimate Partner and Family Maltreatment COUN0063
Units/ Hours: 45
This course will introduce students to various forms of family and intimate partner maltreatment. Students will learn how to identify, recognize, and professionally respond to the effects of maltreatment. Topics to be discussed include the aetiology of family and intimate partner maltreatment, violence from a societal and cultural perspective, effects of maltreatment, legal and reporting issues within the child welfare/ criminal justice system and other relevant legislation, and the service providers? roles in assessment, screening, advocacy and intervention. There will be an emphasis on child, partner and elder maltreatment. The course will also focus on the different impact of maltreatment and intervention considerations with respect to on a variety of minority populations. Case studies, guest lectures and group exercises will be used to enhance learning.
- Social Service Work Practice in Mental Health and Addiction COUN0061
Units/ Hours: 45
This course will provide Social Service Work students with the knowledge and skill base to work more effectively with clients who struggle with both substance use disorders and mental health issues. This course examines how mental health disorders and addictions interact from a social work perspective, resulting in a more complex assessment and treatment process. Students will examine how the various types of mental health disorders have a strong co-morbidity rate with addiction. Students will learn how to screen and assess clients for both substance use disorders and mental health disorders, using various screening and assessment tools. An examination of the treatment process and specific therapeutic approaches will also be examined.
Semester 4
- Block Placement FLPL0001
Units/ Hours: 525
This fourth semester SSW Block Placement allows the student to integrate classroom knowledge, theory and skill into professional practice. Students often tell us that these experiences are the highlight of their college education. Indeed, placement is viewed as an integal, core component of the program's curriculum. Successful completion of the course is determined by the implementation of an appropriate field practice experience. This experience is evaluated through evidence of successful goal completion as well as evaluation by the agency supervisor. The college is then responsible for the final and official granting of the grade into the student's transcript.
Pre-Requisites
- College Communication Skills for the Helping Professions (COMM0156)
- ASIST - Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (COUN0064)
- Aboriginal History and Culture (GNED0049)
- Case Management (COUN0058)
- Communicating at Work for the Helping Professions (COMM0146)
- Community Organizing (COUN0060)
- Counselling Skills I (COUN0055)
- Counselling Skills II (COUN0057)
- Counselling Skills III (COUN0062)
- Group Theory: Models and Dynamics (COUN0066)
- Human Growth and Development (SOCI0025)
- Introduction to Social Service Work Theory and Practice (COUN0017)
- Introduction to Social Welfare (COUN0056)
- Introductory Computing (COMP0345)
- Knowledge, Values and Ethics for Social Service Workers (COUN0065)
- NVCI for Social Service Workers (COUN0059)
- Power, Privilege and Oppression (SOCI0165)
- Preparing for Field Work I (FLPL0064)
- Preparing for Fieldwork II (FLPL0066)
- Program Design and Development (COUN0031)
- Responding to Intimate Partner and Family Maltreatment (COUN0063)
- Social Justice and Diversity (COUN0020)
- Social Service Work Practice in Mental Health and Addiction (COUN0061)
- College Communications for the Helping Professions (COMM0079)