Choosing to be a personal support worker (PSW) offers many rewards; however, it doesn’t come without its share of challenges. Every day you navigate the complex nature of your job. It’s tough work, and a constant evolution, as we try to keep up with the shifting priorities of our health care system.
We recognize that your education and training can’t always prepare you for the realities of your work environment. You’ve spoken and we’ve listened. There haven’t been many formal opportunities for you to expand on your existing PSW skills and certification. That’s why we’ve developed a new fully-online certificate program, along with a wide variety of specialized courses—in areas such as palliative care, and mental health and addiction—to help you fill that gap. And each course completed earns you a digital badge so your can share your achievement.
These new courses encourage you to dig deep and reflect as you advance your interpersonal skills and grow as a successful PSW. With certificate topics such as communication, observation and critical thinking, and empathy and compassion, the goal is to help you build a better connection with your clients and colleagues, enhance your ability to adapt to new situations, and become personally and professionally resilient.
Join us today and start your journey to better care.
Certificate in Advanced Interpersonal Skills for PSW Practice
Through practical application and critical reflection, you will grow your ability to respond proactively and creatively to the complex care needs of your clients and the challenges of a demanding work environment, while developing transferrable skills that are highly desirable to employers in all sectors.
Upon successful completion of this program, you will be able to:
- Critically analyze unfamiliar situations in the workplace and develop an appropriate plan of action
- Implement strategies to create successful relationships within multi-disciplinary care teams
- Demonstrate effective communication across a variety of situations, including with clients, families, and team members
- Develop creative solutions to challenging workplace scenarios
- Apply approaches to build and maintain compassion and empathy for clients, team members and self
Earn a digital badge for each course completed, as well as a certificate for completing all five courses.
Learn More
PSW Strategies
Additional Learning Opportunities to Advance Your PSW Practice
The following five-week online courses provide you with training to address more demanding and complex care environments and client needs. The professional development courses help you establish positive and supportive working relationships, develop mentorship relationships, and lead you to path of launching your own PSW business.
PSW Strategies: Starting Your Homecare Business
If you are contemplating running your own business, this course will give you all of the tools to make a decision about the type of business that will be most suitable for you.
PSW Strategies: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) for the Person in Care
This course is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills required to build equity, diversity and inclusion practices that foster inclusive, person-centred care for clients, particularly older adults, across all care settings.
PSW Strategies: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) in the Workplace
This course is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills required to build equity, diversity and inclusion into everyday interactions at work.
PSW Strategies: Deepening Ethical Competency Within Your Practice
This course is designed to assist you in building ethical awareness and developing skills to navigate common ethical scenarios in ways that support client well-being and quality of life.
PSW Strategies: Person-Centred Care for Mental Health and Addictions
This course is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills required to effectively provide person-centred care to individuals living with mental health concerns and addictions.
PSW Strategies: Accelerating Your Development Through Mentorship
In this course, you will learn effective strategies, tools and processes to build a foundation of effective mentoring.
PSW Strategies: Person-Centred Care for Neurodiverse Clients
By exploring the dynamics of communication and support strategies, this course aims to equip you with the knowledge and skills required to effectively provide person-centred care to neurodivergent clients.
PSW Strategies: Delivering Compassionate, Person-Centred End-of-Life Care
In this course, you will gain the knowledge and skills required to provide high-quality, person-centred care, and support to clients with a life-limiting or palliative diagnosis and to their families.
A Quick Note about Micro-Credentials
Micro-credentials are quickly emerging as a new way to meet job market demands within a shorter time commitment and at lower tuition costs. This new movement in education is on track to gain popularity over longer and more traditional continuing education programs.
What is a digital badge?
A digital badge is a graphic icon that represents a credential through achievement of a particular course or program. Digital badging offers students a simplified approach to documenting and sharing their qualifications and skills with current and future employers.
This project is funded by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities and the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development.