Child and Youth Services Worker (CYSW) Diploma: Online, 62 Weeks
You already have the instinct for this work. What you don’t have yet is the credential.
This diploma provides both the credential and the methods needed to work in child and youth services.
62 Weeks | 1,240 Hours · Fully Online, Asynchronous · Continuous Intakes · No Prior Credential Required
Who This Program Is For
This diploma is designed for people already working or volunteering with children and youth in a group home, shelter, youth center, or after-school program, who have experience but not yet the credential to move into a lead role.
If you’re already doing this work, this program gives you the credential to prove it, and the training to go with it, so you can move off casual work and into a role that matches what you’re already capable of.
It’s also open to anyone who has completed a Community Service Worker (CSW) or Community Developmental Service Worker (CDSW) program, as well as people entering youth work for the first time.
Eligibility:
- OSSD (Ontario Secondary School Diploma) or equivalent, or mature student status (age 19+) with a Wonderlic SLE score of 17
- A clear criminal record check, including Vulnerable Sector Screening, required for admission
- No prior credential required
- Domestic applicants only (Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and protected or convention refugees)
If you're starting out in youth work rather than already working in it
This program teaches the practice and gives you the credential. It does not give you workplace hours, and in this field hours count.
We recommend that you are starting out, start building your hours alongside your studies: volunteer, relief, and support work in youth-serving organizations.
This program is not a fit if:
- You can’t pass a Vulnerable Sector check
- You’re aiming to become a social worker, RSSW, counselor, or therapist; this diploma doesn’t lead to those credentials
- You need a fixed timetable, cohort, or classmates to stay on track; this program is fully asynchronous with no set schedule
- You’d find it difficult to study course material covering drugs, depression, residential schools, discrimination, self-harm, exploitation, and youth justice in depth; the curriculum engages with these topics directly
62
Weeks
1,240 hours across sixteen courses, fully online
160
Hours
Crisis intervention and risk assessment, two sequenced courses
120
Hours
Leadership and mentorship, the largest course in the program
No Prior
Credential
Required to start. Vulnerable Sector check required for admission
What This Credential Actually Does
Child and youth work is a field where experience can substitute for a credential.
According to the Government of Canada’s Job Bank (NOC 42201, Social and community service workers), a college diploma or certificate related to social work or a related human services field is usually required, but the same source states that volunteer or support work experience “may replace formal education requirements for some occupations in this group.”
That means there are three recognized routes into this field: a related college diploma or certificate, equivalent volunteer or support experience, or a combination of both. This diploma is one of those three routes.
Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this occupation in Ontario as Moderate for 2025 to 2027, with a median wage of $26.50/hour (Ontario), $26.15/hour in the Toronto region. This is a stable, established field. If you’re already working in it, none of this will surprise you.
Source: Government of Canada Job Bank, NOC 42201, accessed August 2026.
The Hard Parts of the Work
Instinct gets you through a crisis. It doesn’t always give you a way to walk someone else through what you did or why it worked.
This program spends 160 hours on crisis response and 120 hours on leadership, helping you build the structure underneath the instinct you already have.
Crisis Intervention and Conflict Resolution (80 hours) and Risk Assessment and Crisis Management (80 hours)
Two sequenced courses, 160 hours total. The first covers the types of crisis you’ll encounter, early warning signs, and how to assess the severity and immediacy of risk, plus de-escalation techniques, conflict resolution models, safety planning, and trauma-informed, strengths-based practice. It also covers professional boundaries and self-care in high-stress work.
The second builds on it: structured risk assessment tools for specific threats, including self-harm, aggression, and exploitation, along with safety planning and post-crisis recovery and debriefing (the part a single crisis course won’t teach you).
Youth Mentorship and Leadership Development (120 hours)
This is the largest single course in the program. It covers models of mentorship, leadership styles, and program design that fosters youth engagement and empowerment. It teaches how to build and maintain mentoring relationships, facilitate groups, and navigate the ethical considerations that come with leading rather than just working a shift. It also covers program planning and evaluation, including how to design a youth leadership initiative and measure whether it’s working.
By the end of this course, you’ll have developed your own leadership philosophy and a mentorship toolkit. Crisis response teaches you what to do in the moment. Leadership teaches you what to do after: mentoring someone else, running a group, or building a program instead of just working within one.
Why the Young Person Is in Front of You
Reading a room is one skill. Understanding how someone ended up in that room in the first place is a different one. Four courses, 320 hours in total, on the conditions, systems, and history that bring a young person into contact with the people who are supposed to help them.
Youth Justice and the Legal System (80 hours)
You’ll learn how the Youth Criminal Justice Act works, how police decide who gets charged and who doesn’t, what happens in court, how sentencing works, and what restorative justice looks like in practice. In short: how a young person actually ends up in the system, not just what happens once they’re already in it.
Working with At-Risk Youth (100 hours)
You’ll learn how poverty, homelessness, family breakdown, substance use, and contact with the justice system stack up to put a young person at risk, and how discrimination and inequality create that risk before the young person has done anything at all.
Addressing Current Youth Issues in Canada (80 hours)
This expands on the same issues from the last course, examining how they play out across the country through policy, economics, and social conditions.
Indigenous Perspectives in Child and Youth Care (60 hours)
You’ll learn about residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, child welfare involvement, and intergenerational trauma. Indigenous worldviews and what culturally safe, decolonizing practice looks like.
Nobody could have taught you this from a shift; it’s not something you pick up on the job. This is the part that explains the rest of the work.
Full Curriculum
Sixteen courses. 1,240 hours. Every course is listed in full below.
| Total | 1,240 |
|---|---|
| COURSE | HOURS |
| Introduction to Child and Youth Care | 60 |
| Child and Adolescent Psychology | 80 |
| Family Dynamics and Community Support | 60 |
| Crisis Intervention and Conflict Resolution | 80 |
| Mental Health and Addictions in Youth | 80 |
| Indigenous Perspectives in Child and Youth Care | 60 |
| Youth Justice and the Legal System | 80 |
| Special Needs and Inclusive Care | 60 |
| Child Development and Early Learning | 80 |
| Risk Assessment and Crisis Management | 80 |
| Child and Youth Advocacy and Policy | 60 |
| Working with At-Risk Youth | 100 |
| Understanding Youth Behavior and Intervention | 100 |
| Youth Mentorship and Leadership Development | 120 |
| Addressing Current Youth Issues in Canada | 80 |
| Capstone Project: Integrative Child and Youth Services Practice | 60 |
What You Leave With
By the end of this program, you’ll have produced three concrete pieces of work.
A leadership philosophy
Developed by you during Youth Mentorship and Leadership Development (120 hours).
A mentorship toolkit
Developed during Youth Mentorship and Leadership Development (120 hours).
Advocacy plans
Developed during Child and Youth Advocacy and Policy (60 hours), communicated to decision-makers and community partners as part of the course.
How You Study, and Who It Suits
This program is fully online and fully asynchronous, delivered through Canvas. There’s no fixed timetable or cohort; you move through the material on your own schedule within each week.
20 hours a week
FOR OVER A YEAR
1,240 hours over 62 weeks works out to 20 hours a week. This program requires consistent, self-directed study, week over week, for over a year.
There’s no placement in this program. In its place is a 60-hour capstone project, completed near the end of the diploma.
No set class time
AND NO COHORT TO KEEP PACE WITH
Because there’s no set class time and no cohort to keep pace with, this model asks a lot of self- management. If you need a fixed schedule, classmates, or regular check-ins to stay on track, this program won’t give you any of those.
What It Costs, and What the Money Buys
This program costs a total of $20,100.
$18,500
Tuition
$1,600
Books
Here’s what the tuition covers:
- Sixteen courses
- 1,240 hours of coursework over 62 weeks
- Of that, 160 hours are spent on crisis response, 120 hours on leadership and mentorship, and 320 hours on the systems and history behind why a young person ends up in front of you.
Class size is capped at 25, and intakes are continuous; there’s no fixed start date to wait for. Guidance is available on student funding options.
How We Compare
| OXFORD COLLEGE DIPLOMA | OTHER PRIVATE COLLEGE DIPLOMAS | SHORT CERTIFICATES AND WORKSHOPS | |
| Credential | Diploma, 1,240 hours over 62 weeks | Diploma | Certificate of completion |
| Scope | Sixteen courses, the whole practice | Varies | A single topic |
| Dedicated crisis coursework | Two courses, 160 hours, sequenced | Varies | Hours to days |
| Leadership and mentorship | 120 hours, the largest course in the program | Varies | Rarely covered |
| Cause and context | 320 hours across four courses | Varies | Rarely covered |
| Schedule | No fixed schedule. Asynchronous, self-paced within the week | Varies | Varies |
| Entry | No prior credential. Vulnerable Sector check required | Varies | Usually open |
Where This Can Take You
This diploma prepares you to work in roles such as:
- Child and youth worker
- Mental health worker
- Family service worker
- Youth worker
- Crisis intervention worker
- Drop-in center worker
- Group home worker
- Community service worker
- Life skills instructor
Where This Work Happens
Community and social service agencies
Youth centers and after-school programs
Group homes and residential programs
Shelters and transitional housing for youth
School-based and school-linked programs
Mental health and addictions programs for youth
With additional education and experience, some people in this field move into management roles within social, community, and correctional services.
This occupation falls under NOC 42201 (Social and community service workers). Job Bank rates the Ontario employment outlook for this group as Moderate for 2025 to 2027, with a median wage of $26.50/hour (Ontario), or $26.15/hour in the Toronto region.
Source: Government of Canada Job Bank, NOC 42201, accessed August 2026.
Why Choose Oxford College?
Career-Focused Education
All of the diploma programs are designed for long-term careers in various industries, offering you a superior fast-track education.
Learn The Important Parts
160 hours on crisis response and 120 hours on leadership, the two areas most youth work training doesn’t go deep on.
Modern Facilities
The state-of-the-art classrooms and labs are compliant with industry standards and allow for an emphasis on practical training
Study Anywhere, Anytime
Fully online and fully asynchronous. No fixed class times, no commute, no campus required.
Flexible Start Dates
Flexible program start dates allow you to plan and begin your new career training at any time
Financial Aid
Financial Aid may be available to those who qualify. We have dedicated staff who can assist you with the Financial Aid process
Program Details
| Duration | 62 weeks, 1,240 hours (about 20 hours a week) |
| Delivery | Fully online and fully asynchronous, delivered through Canvas |
| Credential | Diploma |
| Courses | Sixteen |
| Class size | Capped at 25 students |
| Placement | None — a 60-hour capstone project replaces a placement |
| Intakes | Continuous — no fixed start date to wait for |
| Admission | OSSD or equivalent, or mature student status (19+) with a Wonderlic SLE score of 17. No prior credential required |
| Record check | Clear criminal record check with Vulnerable Sector Screening, required for admission |
| Eligibility | Domestic applicants only (Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and protected or convention refugees) |
| Occupation | NOC 42201, Social and community service workers |
Ready to Move Into a Lead Role?
Request free information on our Child and Youth Services Worker Diploma.
PLEASE NOTE:
This is a fully online, asynchronous program (62 weeks, about 20 hours a week),
requiring a clear Vulnerable Sector check for admission.
For immediate questions, call us directly at: 1-866-918-0657