First aboriginal Social Work students graduate from unique joint program

By Andy Lee

First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI) and Ryerson University recently graduated the inaugural 13 students of their joint Bachelor of Social Work program. Launched in 2004, this unique advanced standing program, accredited under the Canadian Association of Schools of Social Work, combines mainstream social work theory and practices with an aboriginal world view.

“I learned how to be a social worker, but I learned how to do it as an aboriginal person,” said graduate Bill Hill, a social worker at Regional Mental Health Care London. “It was a wonderful opportunity that allowed me to maintain full-time employment and apply my education to my work.”

The students enrolled in this program gain advanced standing based on their previous certification in a community college program in social services and their many years of practice experiences in social work settings and agencies primarily in their aboriginal communities.

Read all about it here: http://www.ryerson.ca/news/news/General_Public/20070615_fnti.html