Course Information

Building Family Supports is designed to introduce the students to the philosophy and practice of successfully engaging and working with families within a collaborative team approach. The intent is to assist family members to achieve optimal positive outcomes through partnerships and trust. This course will introduce students to the myriad of service options and service coordination responsibilities involved in delivering human services to families in Ontario. Its purpose is to demystify practices such as accessing services, making referrals, treatment planning, case management and case conferencing as they apply to families. The student will explore several case studies in case conference services to illustrate each of the central tenets of the approach: A practice of unconditional care, A focus on individual strengths, A family-driven, family-strengths-focused process, an individualized approach, an emphasis on serving families within their communities, A commitment to culturally competent care, An emphasis on interagency collaboration, A net result of cost-effectiveness, and an outcome-driven process.