November 21, 2017 | Ontario

New CDI College program provides hands-on training working directly with youth and their families

Everyone has been touched in some way by drug and alcohol addiction, and with opiate overdoses killing thousands of Canadians this year, there is a pressing need for addictions workers to keep up with the skyrocketing numbers of people seeking help.

CDI College’s Addictions Recovery Support for Youth and Families is a specialized addictions worker training program designed to prepare you for a new career supporting youth clients and their families in a range of agencies and facilities.

“A career as an addictions worker is one of the most challenging but rewarding paths a student can take,” said Andre Souza, VP of Operations at CDI College. “Frontline workers are vital members of a functioning healthcare system, especially when we are going through an opioid addiction crisis like we’re seeing now in North America.”

The program is broken into four parts – Common Skills, Addictions Core Skills, Child and Youth Skills, and Workplace skills – and includes focused, relevant training in the most important concepts involved with working in social services.

In these modules, you’ll gain an understanding for case file management and report writing, interviewing techniques, the fundamentals of addiction, poverty, pharmacology, and mental health.

Additionally, you will also receive training in working with families, high-risk populations, intake procedures, relapse prevention and intervention, and more.

“We wanted to ensure our students had a thorough, relevant training in four major pillars of working in social services,” Souza said. “It’s especially important to have this focus when the clients can be children and youth.”

Once you complete the four modules successfully, there is a 300-hour community-based practicum you must carry out to receive diploma. Throughout the practicum, you’ll be working in the social services field and handling your own clients.

CDI College is now accepting applications for the Addictions Recovery Support for Youth and Families diploma program. For more information, fill out the form to your right.