Experiential Teaching and Learning in Child and Youth Care Work
An Integrative Approach to Graduate Education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5195/jcycw.2020.5Keywords:
Professional developmentAbstract
The Graduate Diploma in Youth Work is in its fifth year at Concordia University in Montreal. In a department committed to experiential teaching and the training of practitioners, a large focus of the program is to immerse students in experiences that prepare them for engaging in reflexive and theoretically informed approaches to practice. The purpose of this article will be to illustrate our program model through four learning activities that are representative of our unique approach to youth worker education. An additional focus will be the ways in which our model and these activities align with the Association for Child and Youth Care Practice competencies.
A model of integrative youth work education was developed in 2015 by Ranahan, Blanchet-Cohen and Mann-Feder to form the basis for an advanced Graduate Diploma in youth work in Montreal, Quebec (Concordia University, n.d.). The purpose of this article is to share four structured experiential learning activities that illustrate this model. Prior to describing the activities, an overview of our approach to integrative youth work will be provided, along with a discussion of how it aligns with the competencies for practice developed by the Association for Child and Youth Care Practice (ACYCP) (Association for Child and Youth Care Practice, 2010).
An erratum for this article has been publishd at DOI: https://doi.org/10.5195/jcycw.2020.447.
References
Ashworth, J. (2001). Practice principles: A guide for mental health clinicians working with suicidal children and youth. Ministry of Children and Family Development: British Columbia. Retrieved from http://www.mcf.gov.bc.ca/mental_health/pdf/suicid_prev_manual.pdf
Binghampton University Career Development Centre(n.d.) Identifying your values. Retrieved from theassessmentcentre.org/presentation/identifying-your-values.pdf
Bostik, K. E., & Everall, R. D. (2006). In my mind I was alone: Suicidal adolescents' perceptions of attachment relationships. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 28(3), 269-287.
Brion-Meisels, G.; Savitz-Romer, M., & Vasudevan, D. (2016). Not “anyone can do this work”:
Preparing Youth Workers in a graduate school of education. In Pozzoboni, K.M., & Kirshner, B. The changing landscape of Youth Work: Theory and practice for an evolving field. Information Age Publishing: Charlotte, North Carolina.
Canadian Council of Child and Youth Care Associations (n.d.). Definition of Child and Youth Care. Retrieved from www.cyccanada.ca
Concordia University (n.d.) Youth Work (GrDip). Retrieved from www.concordia.ca/academics/graduate/youth-work.html
Cunliffe, A. L. (2016). Republication of ‘On becoming a critically reflexive practitioner’. Journal of Management Education, 40(6), 747-768. doi: 10.1177/1052562916674465
Curry, D. (2005). Training to promote ethical practice. CYC-Online, 83. Retrieved from www.cyc-net.org/cyc-online/cycol-1205-curry.html
CYC-net (n.d.) Discussion Threads: Values, Retrieved from www.cyc-net.org/threads/values/html
Diamond, G. S. et al., (2010). Attachment-based family therapy for adolescents with suicidal ideation: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 49(2), 122-131.
Draucker, C. B., Martsolf, D. S., & Poole, C. (2009). Developing distress protocols for research on sensitive topics. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 23(5), 343-350. doi: 10.1016/j.apnu.2008.10.008
Flippo, T. (2016). Social and emotional learning in action. Experiential activities to positively impact school climate. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.
Fowler, J. C. (2012). Suicide risk assessment in clinical practice: Pragmatic guidelines for imperfect assessments. Psychotherapy, 49(1), 81-90.
Freedenthal, S. (2018). Helping the suicidal person: Tips and techniques for professionals. New York: Routledge.
Gendreau, G. (2001). Jeunes en difficulté et intervention psychoéducative. Montréal : Béliveau éditeur.
Gharabaghi, K. (2009) Values and ethics in Child and Youth Care practice. Child and Youth Services, 30(3-4), 185-209.
Gilbert, P., & Stickley, T. (2012). “Wounded Healers”: the role of lived?experience in mental health education and practice. The Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice, 7(1), 33-41. doi: 10.1108/17556221211230570
Goldstein, G. & Fernald, P. (2009). Humanistic education in a capstone course. College teaching. 57 (1) 27-36.
Harder, H. G., Holyk, T., Russell, V. L., & Klassen-Ross, T. (2015). Nges Siy (I love you): A community-based youth suicide intervention in Northern British Columbia. International Journal of Indigenous Health, 10(2), 21-32. Retrieved from http://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/ijih/article/view/14309/pdf_19
Kairos website (n.d.). https://www.kairosblanketexercise.org/resources/#scripts
MacDonald, M. (2016). Indigenizing the Academy. What some universities are doing to
weave indigenous peoples, cultures and knowledge into the fabric of their campus.
University Affairs/Affaires universitaires, April 6, 2016. Retrieved from
http://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/indigenizing-the-academy/
Kouri, S., & White, J. (2014). Thinking the other side of youth suicide: Engagements with life. International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies, 5(1), 180-203.
McLellan, H. (1996). Situated learning perspectives. Englewood Cliffs: Educational Technology Publications.
Magnuson, D. (2005). Introduction. Child and Youth Care Forum, 34(4), 359-360.
Mann-Feder, V. & Litner, B. (2004). A normative re-educative approach to Youthwork education. Child and Youth Care Forum, 33(4), 275-286.
Merriam Webster(n.d.)Principles.Retrievedfromhttps://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/principle
Office of the Child and Youth Advocate, Alberta. (2015). 16-Year-Old Sam Serious Injury: An Investigative Review. Edmonton, Alberta: Author.
Ordre des Psychoeducateurs et Psychoeducatrices du Quebec (n.d.). Mission, vision, et valeurs. Retrieved from www.ordrepsed.qc.ca/fr/lordre/mission-vision-et-valeurs
Pasha, S. (2016). An activity based learning model for teaching of soft skills to prospective teachers. Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences, 36 (2), 1265-1279
Phelan, J. (2005). Child and youth care education: The creation of articulate practitioners. Child and Youth Care Forum, 34(5), 347-355.
Prince, M. (2004). Does active learning work? A Review of the Research, Journal of Engineering Education, 93 (3), 223-231.
Ranahan, P. (in press). De/valuing youth work: Pre-service youth workers’ development of professional identity in the context of mental health care. Child & Youth Services. doi: 10.1080/0145935X.2018.1475224
Ranahan, P.(2016) Protocols or principles? Reimaging suicide risk assessment as an embedded, principle-based ongoing conversation in youth work practice. Child and Youth Services, DOI: 10.1080/014593.5y.2016.1158095
Ranahan, P., & Pellissier, R. (2015). Being green: A discourse analysis of youth workers’ initial touchstone experiences with suicidal youth. Relational Child and Youth Care Practice, 27(4), 11-22.
Ranahan, P. (2014). Watching in child and youth care suicide interventions: The potential for observational practices to be disengaging. International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies, 5(1), 4-23. Retrieved from http://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/ijcyfs/article/viewFile/12851/3975
Ranahan, P. (2013). Being with: Child and youth care professionals’ practice with suicidal adolescents. Relational Child and Youth Care Practice, 26(1), 6-17.
Ranahan, P. (2013). “Why did you call for them?” Child and youth care professionals’ practice of flooding the zone during encounters with suicidal adolescents. Child Care in Practice, 19(2), 138-161.
Ranahan, P. (2013). Pathways for preparation: Locating suicide education in preparing professionals for encounters with suicidal adolescents. Child & Youth Services, 34(4), 387-401. doi:10.1080/0145935X.2013.859908
Ranahan, P. (2011). Child and Youth Care Professionals' Mental Health Literacy Practices in Their Encounters with Suicidal Adolescents: A Grounded Theory Study (Doctoral dissertation, University of Victoria).
Ranahan, P., Blanchet-Cohen, N., & Mann-Feder, V. (2015). Moving towards an integrative approach to youth work education. International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies, 6(4), 516-538.
Sinha, V., Trocmé, N., Fallon, N., MacLaurin, B., Fast, E., Thomas Prokop, S. et al (2011). Kiskisik
Awasisak: Remember the children. Understanding the overrepresentation of First
Nations children in the child welfare system. Ontario: Assembly of First Nations, 199pp. Available at: http://cwrp.ca/fn-cis-2008
Svinicki, M. et McKeachie, W. J. (2014). McKeachie’s teaching tips (14e éd.). Belmont, CA : Wadsworth.
University of Victoria(n.d.). What makes up a competency? Retrieved from
https://www.uvic.ca/coopandcareer/assets/docs/
White, J. (2012). Youth suicide as a “wild” problem: Implications for prevention practice. Suicidology Online, 3, 42-50. Retrieved December 1, 2012, from http://www.suicidologyonline.com/pdf/SOL-2012-3-42-50.pdf
White, J. (2007). Working in the midst of ideological and cultural differences: Critically reflecting on youth suicide prevention in Indigenous communities. Canadian Journal of Counselling, 41(4), 213-227.
World Health Organization. (2014). Preventing suicide: A global imperative. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mental_health/suicide-prevention/world_report_2014/en/
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
- Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
- The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
- Attribution—other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;
- The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a prepublication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
- Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
- The Author represents and warrants that:
- the Work is the Author’s original work;
- the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
- the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
- the Work has not previously been published;
- the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
- the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
- The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.
- The Author agrees to digitally sign the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work.