Supporting Yukon’s support workers

A new certificate program, launching in September 2019, is designed to give Yukon’s education and employment support workers the skills they need to excel under difficult and complex conditions.

The Community Education and Employment Support certificate was designed in consultation with Yukon First Nations.

“It was a need that kept coming up again and again in our conversations,” says Tracy Kane, Employment and Training Officer with Champagne and Aishihik First Nations. “Our positions are complex; there is generally high turn-over and high burnout rates.”

Tracy has been in the position since 2007, and this type of training did not exist when she began her career.

“Many of us didn’t have people to mentor and teach us, so that’s where the course comes in handy,” she says. “Graduates should be able to come into any employment office in any government in the Yukon and have a good grasp of what’s needed.”

The course content was developed after consultations with people from all over the Yukon who are actually working in front-line positions. So, students will get the skills needed to do the job.

“Yukon College has been great in working with us here in the community and in working with what community members need,” says Kane.

The program is designed to offer participants the knowledge and skills required to support individuals through their education and employment pathways.

“We are looking at the whole context of someone’s life and addressing the needs of the whole person,” says Yukon College Instructor/Coordinator Faith Whiting. “By developing an approach based on case management, we can work to support people to chart education or employment goals and create a plan to obtain them.” 

Through the program, students explore topics such as trauma-informed practice, change theory, advocacy, collecting and managing information, case management, computer and office skills, professionalism and ethics, communication skills, project management, and health and wellness.

Following a one-week intensive course at Yukon College’s Ayamdigut campus in Whitehorse in September 2019, the program is available by distance and participants can study from their home communities.

Some program courses are available for professional development to people working in related roles.

For more information visit: yukoncollege.yk.ca/CEES