Why A Child and Youth Worker?

You may ask why I want to be a child and youth worker?

I am the type of person who loves to work with kids of all ages and to be able to help someone out. If i can make someone happy in a day and assist them in achieving something that they really want that will make me very happy. I feel if I were to go to college for a child and youth worker I would be happy with my career choice because there are so many opportunities I can take on with just this one career. Growing up my family didn't have many hard times and I still had lots of problems with my friends and siblings. Being someone who can help another person who is going through and suffering from a lot of problems is something I look forward to. I would like my career if I was going through as this. Other courses I have considered is a social worker and a early childhood education. All in all these careers are basically the same idea and they have  alot of responsibilities in common. I wanna be the person who does the best thing for the child even if that means taking them away from their homes because their parents are abusive in many ways or they just abandoned their children. I want whats best for everyone of all ages.

My family is rather big, I have a younger brother who is 15 and two younger sisters, one that is 7 and one that is 5. When my mom and dad split up it was only me and my brother then my mom got married and had my two sisters. About a year ago they split up and now my brother lives with my step dad and i live with my mom and my two sisters go week about. I am the oldest even with all my cousins so i have learned since i was about 8 to be able to take care and help all different ages of children. When my mom isn't home I have to babysit and I have to deal with my little sister Paige who has hearing aids. One thing i really enjoy doing is being with children and helping them out. I know for a fact that if I do something like this for the rest of my life I will enjoy my job greatly and I will wake up every morning looking forward to going to work and putting a smile on other peoples faces!!!

What are Child and Youth Workers?

Child and youth workers are there to provide help to children and teens who have rough patches in their lives. They are not doctors or social workers but rather a cousellor or a parent, a mentor or a friend. Many people that they work with have problems at home, substance abuse or trouble with the law. These people will coucel their clients one on one and in group therapy sessions as well. In addition to counselling, child and youth workers plan and coordinate activities for the young people they work with. Other things that child and youth workers can do to help children out are organize sports, arts theatre groups, local trips and help teenagers get jobs.All the programs they plan are designed to help young people look after themselves, manage their personal relationships, set goals, and make positive life decisions.

The relationship that develops between the worker and the client are another thing that makes the treatment effective.

Where and When

When

Most child and youth workers are employed by all government agencies.Full-time child and youth workers work 35 to 40 hours a week. They usually do shift work, as clients in residential places need round-the-clock care. Part-time workers might only work evenings or weekends, or be on-call.

Child and youth workers who are employed at schools are able to take off 2 months in the summer just like teachers! However, they usually use part of these 2 months to upgrade skills and prepare for the following years to come! There jobs are basically like teachers they get the two months of vacation and help children as much as they can. Hours can go from all hours of the day and night, basically its when people need them so child and youth workers need to be available at all times.

Where

When students graduate they are prepared to work in a wide range of settings that provide development of children, youth and their families. Child and youth workers are professionals in residential care facilities, mental health treatment centres, shelters, school programs, therapeutic foster care environments, community-based services/resource centres and youth criminal justice services. There are many places that they can work as long as it helps deal with children and all the problems that they have. Basically the most popular place this occupation will work is at schools because there are so many students there who need help and they spend a lot of their time at school.

Responsibilities

Child and youth workers deal with kids and teens everyday who suffer from problems with their families, friends and life styles. Growing up can be very hard even when your in a stable family so just visualize what its like for teenagers who come from troubled backgrounds. Being a child and youth worker you have to like helping people and be in good emotional condition to help these people out. Your help can save someones or many people lives each day.
Some responsibilities are:

v     Assisting students with their work

v     Supervising and maintaining safety with the kids

v     Helping the teachers

v     Making sure their academic marks are in good standings

v     Encouraging their processes

v     Apply goals to be set

v     Personal care, assisting with feeding and school work

v     Physio therapy, speech and language

v     Assisting life skills

v     Working one on one with the students

v     Deliver activities and programs

v     Escort youth appointments

As you can see there are many responsibilities that are needed to be able to handle working in this career.  

Here are some qualities you may need:

v      You like helping people

v      You like working with young people with problems

v      You are in good emotional condition and will work to stay that way

v      You have the emotional stamina to give of yourself

v      You respond well to stress

v      You are well organized and have a high energy level

v      You are safety conscious

v      You are dedicated to lifelong learning

Earnings

This occupation is employed by the provincial and municipal government departments, treatment centers, group homes, youth shelters, community organizations, schools, and hospitals. These jobs can be full time and part time but at the most part many people work full time. The salaries will differ depending on how much you work, where you work, who you work with and what you do while you are working. In general, earnings for full-time child and youth workers range from about $25,000 to $50,000 a year. Pay is higher for those who have a bachelor’s degree in this area or in a related field, such as social work, psychology, or sociology. People who work as a supervisory are likely to get more money so they can be making $50,000 a year or more.

College and University Preparations

The minimum educational condition to become a child and youth worker is usually a diploma in child and youth care. Programs are available all over the country that typically are 2-3 years in length. Lots of these programs require some field placement to get to know what the jobs are about. . In addition, if you desire to be able to move into a supervisory or organization position, you will likely need at least a bachelor’s degree. A bachelor’s or master’s degree is also necessary to get into other specialized social service careers such as social work or marriage and family counseling. Some related jobs that you can go to college for as well that deal with the same features are: social worker, social service worker, early childhood education, developmental and Child Psychology and early childhood and youth administration.

College Eligibility

Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) or equivalent. Applicants with an OSSD showing senior English and/or mathematics courses at the Basic Level, or with Workplace or Open courses, will be tested to determine their eligibility for admission; OR Academic and Career Entrance (ACE) certificate; OR General Educational Development (GED) certificate; OR Mature Student status (19 years of age or older and without a high school diploma at the start of the program). Eligibility may be determined by academic achievement testing for which a fee of $40 (subject to change) will be charged.

Program Eligibility

English, Grade 12 (ENG4C or equivalent) with a minimum grade of 65%. Should the number of qualified applicants exceed the number of available places, applicants will be selected on the basis of their proficiency in English

Year one- classes run Monday-Friday

Year two- classes are held on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday- Friday field placements will occur.

Year three- classes are held on Thursday and Friday while field placements occur primarily on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Some placement will allow student to work on weekends therefore they will need to be available.

additional information is available at :

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http://www.algonquincollege.com/

Survey For Educational Assistants

I handed out a survey which consisted of 7 questions to all the educational assistants in Renfrew collegiate institute. There were 10 surveys handed out and returned and the results were basically all the same answers.

First question of the survey was if the EA’s enjoyed working with the kids everyday. 10 out of 10 stated that yes, they loved coming to the school everyday knowing they can work with the kids!

The second question was the level of stress the career gave the teachers. It ranged from 3-8 throughout all the assistants. Therefore depending on what you do everyday and the kid’s behavior this job can be very stressful for some.

Question number 3 asks if college or university prepared them for this career. 7 out of 10 say that college prepared them for this career and 3 out of 10 says it did not. The reason why it didn’t prepare them for this course was because the placement taught them more then the books. The assistants stated that experience is the best schooling for this career option.

The fourth question asked the educational assistants what elements of their day they brought home with them. I think all the educational assistants agreed and said the successes that the student have made throughout the day and what they can do the next day to make the students learn faster.

Question number five asks what some of the main responsibilities are. These were the results from all of the EA’s answers:

-implementing students goals

-personal care

-keeping students focused

-assisting the teachers

-academic marks

-physio therapy

-assisting life skills

The 6^th question I asked all the educational assistants in RCI was what they were not prepared for in this profession. Some of the answers consisted of how attached they get to the students, the wide range of disabilities that require different techniques, behavior of the students how busy and how demanding the job is and how emotionally involved you get with the kids.

The last question I asked them is what their favorite this is about their jobs. The answers varied but on the most part a lot of them talked about how the accomplishment of the students because it makes themselves and the students very happy each day and it is never a dull moment!