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Community and Justice Services

Available as a two-year program

Community and justice services professionals often work with clients who find themselves at a crossroads. They work within the justice system – focusing on keeping people out of it through prevention, intervention and rehabilitation. Help build stronger, safer communities by helping people at risk gain the skills and support they need to make positive life choices.
  • Credential
    • Two-year Ontario College Diploma

  • Start Date

    September and January entry

  • Location
    • Belleville campus

Find your career

Train for a rewarding career and help make a real difference in the lives of people at risk.

  • Work with clients ranging from children to young offenders to adults, and people with addictions, developmental delays and mental health challenges.
  • There are opportunities in a vast range of settings: youth custody facilities, child welfare homes, federal and provincial correctional facilities, attendance centres, community justice agencies, victim support agencies and a variety of residential facilities for people at risk.
  • Grads who successfully complete the provincial or federal correctional system recruitment process will receive additional training upon employment.
  • There is such a strong demand for community and justice services professionals that many students receive job offers before they graduate.

Our grads get great jobs

  • Correctional Officer, Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services
  • Child and Youth Worker, Terrace Youth Residential Services
  • Probation and Parole Officer, Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services
  • Youth Services Officer, Ministry of Children and Youth Services
  • Child and Youth Worker, Bayfield Treatment Centres/Connor Homes
  • Correctional Officer, Correctional Service of Canada
  • Adult Residential Worker, Pathways to Independence/Kerry’s Place Autism Services
  • Branch Service and Support Coordinator, Canadian Mental Health Association of Leeds and Grenville
  • Integrity Services Investigator, Service Canada

Is it for you?

Students entering this program should have a strong desire to make our communities safer. Successful candidates are:

  • Excellent communicators
  • Good listeners
  • Committed to helping others
  • Open to self-reflection and personal growth

Experiential learning

Our program adapts to emerging policies and best practices to prepare students for the workplace — with practical, hands-on learning:

  • Sharpen your assessment and communication skills during scenario-based role-plays, emphasizing personal safety and the protection of staff, clients and the community.
  • Visit adult and youth detention facilities and earn a certificate in Non-Violent Crisis Intervention. 
  • Hear from guest speakers who share their real-life experiences with post-traumatic stress, suicide interventions and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, as well as professionals working in group homes, federal and provincial corrections and sexual assault centres.
  • Help clients across the spectrum of the justice system with a three-fold focus on prevention, intervention and reintegration.

Outstanding faculty make the difference

  • Students build strong connections with their professors and each other in small, tight-knit classes
  • Faculty draw from a range of professional experience working in detention facilities as well as residential, educational and open custody settings
  • Instructors bring varied expertise in counselling, mental health and addictions, probation, parole and working with at-risk youth
  • The program stays up to date and relevant with ongoing feedback from graduates and an advisory committee of current industry professionals

Multiply your options in justice studies

As you get a feel for different careers in the field of justice, it’s important to find the right fit for you. A common first-year curriculum allows the flexibility to transfer directly into year two of:

  • Police Foundations
  • Protection, Security and Investigation

Ask Me Anything

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