Personal Support Worker
Available as a one-year program
Testimonials
- Credential
One-year Ontario College Certificate
- Start Date
September, January and May entry (full-time)
- Location
Belleville campus
Find your career
Personal support workers provide supportive care to clients who are experiencing physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioural challenges. PSWs work under the direction of both the client and regulated health care professionals such as registered nurses and registered practical nurses.
- Opportunities working in hospitals, long-term care facilities, retirement homes, community agencies providing support in the client’s home and self-employment.
- Graduates are ready for employment in less than one year with no further qualifying exam or certification required.
Our grads get great jobs
- Personal Support Worker, Hastings Centennial Manor
- Personal Support Worker, Canadian Red Cross
- Personal Support Worker, Westgate Lodge
- Personal Support Worker, Saint Elizabeth Health Care
- Personal Support Worker, VON
Is it for you?
Personal support workers are caring professionals. People who thrive in this career:
- Really like interaction with people, talking and listening
- Are comfortable working as part of a team
- Come from a variety of backgrounds
- Enjoy helping others
What employers say
"I feel strongly connected to the Loyalist PSW program. The coordinators and faculty members are excellent to work with and their genuine goal of helping their students be successful is always foremost. The placement opportunities we provide at the Valley Manor Nursing Home are excellent learning opportunties for the students - and helpful to us. Working with the students, we have the opportunity to assess who would be a good fit on our team. From one class alone we hired four new graduates."
Gail Yantha
Valley Manor Nursing Home, Barry's Bay
Experiential learning
In this hands-on program, you will learn to effectively support clients in their day-to-day activities, emphasizing trust, respect and individual choice:
- Learn in small clinical and lab groups under the guidance of experienced faculty.
- Practise monitoring and recording changes to clients’ conditions in Loyalist’s Human Simulation Lab with manikins simulating realistic scenarios.
- Learn from guest speakers about a wide variety of topics pertinent to supporting residents in long-term care and clients in their own homes.
- Learn how to shop for clients and provide nutritious meals on a balanced budget.
- Learn and practise skills in a virtual learning environment (VLE) as an avatar.
- Learning combines theory, laboratory practice and clinical placement all in the same week so students can apply what they’ve learned in a real-life setting.
- Students have completed placements with Belmont Long-Term Care Facility, Moira Place, Hastings Manor, EJ McQuigge Lodge, Trent Valley Lodge Nursing Home, Pine Meadow Nursing Home, Hastings Centennial Manor, Helen Henderson Care Centre Lodge, the Victorian Order of Nurses, Canadian Red Cross, ParaMed and St. Elizabeth’s Belleville.
Outstanding faculty make the difference
- Teachers are registered nurses with extensive experience working with all members of the health care team in hospital, long-term care and community settings.
- Professors participate in ongoing professional development, and many continue to work in their field, keeping their skills up-to-the-minute.
As Ontario’s workforce faces employment challenges related to COVID-19, many individuals are using this time to reengage in learning by earning new credentials that will prepare them to launch or ch... 