There is a huge demand for qualified and trained social service workers (SSWs) in Canada. The profession is concerned with helping individuals, families and communities to resolve their problems and enhance their well-being. And those who are engaged in social service work wear many hats. They act as advisers, counsellors, caretakers, therapists, administrators and social change supports on any given day.

Though these roles may seem extremely diverse and to require almost limitless range of knowledge and skills, but the truth is that all these roles are interconnected and need almost similar expertise and know-how. A social service worker may help interested individuals gain the knowledge and skills required to seek employment in this field. Centennial College's two-year post-secondary program provides students with the basic competencies that will work well in most situations. These include:

Basic Theoretical Grounding :- The two-year program provides students with strong grounding in a variety of subjects, including developmental psychology, applied social research and data management, social policy, community development, social service work with groups, power and social movements and report presentation for community service workers.

Hands-on Training :- To seek employment in this field, it's necessary to have hands-on training in assessing communities, developing funding proposals, interviewing clients, recognizing the needs of individuals or groups, and developing social action plans. The program at Centennial College helps students learn how to encourage and help people to develop their skills and the abilities to resolve their problems on their own.

Empathy :- Empathizing is an intellectual as well as an emotional process that helps SSWs in understanding other people's situations. Therefore, this is one of the major requirements for becoming a SSW. However, this is an intangible aspect of this profession but this is what encourages youngsters to enter this field. It cannot be taught through classroom learning but students may develop it overtime and become more sensitive towards the needs of people who have been discriminated on the basis of colour, gender, community, region or religion when they actually go out to the field and work with them. This is the reason why Centennial College incorporates industry field placements in the curriculum.

Social Perceptiveness and Awareness:- The college program also helps students gain social perceptiveness and awareness by making them understand how values and ideologies contribute to the construction of social problems. The intensive field programs allow them to interact with youth, homeless, the under housed, seniors, people with mental disabilities, people with developmental disabilities and assaulted women and understand their issues and problems. This helps students develop social perceptiveness and awareness.

The program curriculum is all-inclusive and focuses on preparing students to become professionals who are committed to social justice and equality of people regardless of their class, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, ability and sexual orientation.