A QUARTER CENTURY OF FIRSTS
When its first students attended classes 25 years ago, the school of child and youth care was a new, ground-breaking program. Founded by then department of psychology chair Dr. Bill Gaddes, the new program maintained a strong affiliation with his department, but it didn't take long for the new discipline to strike out on its own.
The school celebrates its silver anniversary on Nov. 14 with a day of presentations and workshops, marking a history filled with significant accomplishments.
The school is poised to offer the first post-graduate child and youth care program in the country. The school helped to launch Canada's first national child care journal and edited the country's first text on professional child and youth care. Its faculty, students and graduates are involved in local, national and international research and programs to improve the well-being of our youngest citizens.
"Our graduates are professionals who work in agencies and ministries devoted to improving the lives of children and youth, particularly those who have special psychological, behavioural and familial needs. They help shape policy, educate and provide leadership to caregivers who provide children with protection and care," says the school's director, Dr. Sibylle Artz. "Our primary focus is the well-being of children and youth."
Research conducted by the school's faculty involves a wide range of issues affecting young people: adolescent suicide, eating disorders, youth violence, early childhood education in developing countries, substance abuse, intergenerational relationships and infant development.
Through its First Nations partnership programs, the school works with First Nations communities in B.C. to develop culturally sensitive course work leading to a diploma in child and youth care. It has also offered a master's program by special arrangement to family care workers based in northern Manitoba, many of whom work for the Awasis Agency, which provides support services to 15,000 aboriginal children.
Internationally, faculty members are assisting care workers in Malawi to help the rising number of orphaned children who have lost their parents to AIDS, and helping South Africa transform its child and youth care system following the demise of apartheid. The program, which first offered classes 25 years ago, is now one of the most respected programs in its field.