Human services are among the fastest growing sectors of the Canadian economy. Along with the growth is an increasing diversification of the sector, with fields of practice rising up around specific areas of need. The country as a whole will need social workers to staff new, more specialized service agencies of the future. While the notion of generic social work has a role to play in this increasingly complex environment, it is clear that graduates will also require more specific skills if they are to thrive in the new human service sector. In other words, generic social work is a necessary, but no longer sufficient preparation for practice. ?The overall aim of the program is therefore to produce graduates who are ready to enter the field of their choice after first receiving a thorough grounding in the knowledge, values, and skills common to all social workers. The specializations are built upon the expertise of core teaching faculty and have all been developed with the very active participation of partner agencies in each of the respective fields.

Goals??

To prepare graduates:

• for ethical, innovative, and effective social work practice in a diverse society;
• for competent practice which integrates theory and research;
• to be capable of integrating practice and policy;
• to practice in specialized areas, defined by student interest, faculty expertise, and demand from the field.;
• who have a generic foundation of core social work knowledge, values, and skills, applicable to all fields and methods of practice;
• to practice in specialized areas, defined by student interest, faculty expertise, and demand from the field;
• to work actively to promote social justice, make professional decisions, and perform professional functions that are informed by an understanding of the political context of practice.

Objectives

To prepare students for:

• professional practice according to the accreditation standards of the Council on Social Work Education (CASWE);
• social work practice interventions based on research evidence;
• specialized practice in five identified areas:
• Children and their Families
• Gerontology
• Mental Health and Health
• Social Justice and Diversity
• Social Service Administration
• strengthening partnerships with social work agencies in areas of particular interest to the Faculty for the purposes of enriching the curriculum and producing graduates with the requisite skills to function in those agencies;
• encouraging interdisciplinary linkages.