If you apply to the 2024/25 intake for this program, you will start in May 2025. To begin your studies in May 2024, apply to the 2023/24 academic year.

The one-year Social Service Worker (Accelerated) (C135) diploma program is designed to guide you in developing the knowledge, values and skills to work directly with a wide range of people in need.

This accelerated program stream is a condensed version of the two-year Social Service Worker (C119) program and is available to college and university graduates with a diploma or degree related to the field of social or community work (e.g., social sciences).

If you have strong interpersonal skills and are committed to working toward a more just and equitable society and examining the dynamics of power, oppression, and social location, this program is for you. As a graduate, you will be prepared for roles in a variety of agency settings, including mental health, homelessness, poverty, substance use and addictions, long-term care, criminal justice, crisis supports, and settlement and immigration.

You will learn to identify and act upon the systemic barriers that can impede access to social and economic justice in today’s society and examine the expanding professional roles and responsibilities of social service workers in large urban centres and other communities.

In addition to studying the theoretical models, methods, and skills of social service work practice, you will learn about and develop skills in the following:

• group facilitation
• allyship and anti-oppressive practice
• counselling
• substance use and addiction
• social change and proposal development
• values, ethics and professional practice
• mental health well-being

You will also gain real-world experience with a significant, supervised field placement. In preparation for the field or clinical placement, you will be required to work in multiple small and large groups within classes and community settings.

Many Social Service Worker program faculty have professional experience in the following areas:

• marginalized communities
• institutional health and social service organizations
• federal, provincial, and municipal governments
• research and initiatives in social innovation
• a range of not-for-profit organizations and agencies
• direct practice with individuals, families, groups, and communities

Apply to the Social Service Worker (Accelerated) program if you are a university graduate with a degree in a related discipline* such as:

• psychology
• sociology
• women’s studies
• environmental studies
• education and cultural anthropology

* Students with degrees from other disciplines may be considered if they successfully complete a minimum of six relevant social science courses.

OR

A college graduate with a diploma in:

• Assaulted Women’s and Children’s Counsellor/Advocate
• Child and Youth Care
• Community Worker
• Behavioural Science Technician
• Early Childhood Education

Find a complete list of degrees and diplomas considered for admission to the SSW (Accelerated) (C135) program.

As a student in this program, you will be required to successfully complete a mandatory six-week bridging program that begins in May prior to entering the fall semester. This bridging program is not eligible for additional transfer credits. 

Additional fees will apply for the spring/summer semester. 

Note: Students are not eligible for OSAP for the spring/summer semester.

George Brown College is a signatory of Colleges and Institutes Canada’s Indigenous Education Protocols, which reaffirms the importance of structures and approaches required to address Indigenous peoples’ learning needs and support the self-determination and socio-economic development of Indigenous communities. 

In response to this and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action, the Social Service Worker program is committed to developing the capacity of its students to work with the Indigenous individual, families, groups, and communities. The Social Service Worker program would like to acknowledge the support of Indigenous Education and Services and the Negahneewin Council who have helped the faculty with this process. The Indigenous Learning Outcomes are guiding the integration of Indigenous learning into the curriculum.