Last fall, Thrive Group reached out to Mohawk College's Marinucci Family Centre for Professional Advancement and Continuing Studies (CPACS) with a request to help train a cohort of their personal attendant employees as Personal Support Workers (PSWs).
Thrive Group received funding from the Personal Support Worker Training Fund Program through the Ministry of Health to support workforce development. However, there was a challenge the funding had to be utilized by the end of the fiscal year, March 2025, creating a tight timeline to implement the program effectively.
10 Thrive Group employees recently obtained their Personal Support Workers credential through an accelerated training program at Mohawk College.
"We are so pleased to be partnering with Mohawk College, providing our staff with the opportunity to achieve PSW certification through this program. We appreciate the tremendous effort involved in customizing the curriculum, all while meeting the requirements and tight timelines necessary," says Lucy Sheehan, Thrive Group's Executive Director of AbleLiving Services/Capability Support Services. "This program provides an opportunity and a pathway for our unregulated staff recognizing their experience and skills while allowing them to continue working and supporting the most vulnerable in our community."
Recognizing the urgency, the Marinucci Family Centre for Professional Advancement developed an accelerated 12-week training program, condensing the college's traditional 8-month curriculum. Despite the fast pace, the program ensured that students would graduate with a recognized college certificate, making them fully qualified to work as PSWs upon completion.
"Accelerated programming is a cornerstone of the Marinucci Family Centre for Professional Advancement and Continuing Studies. By engaging in rapid, specialized training, learners can apply their knowledge and skills at a pace required in an evolving workforce," said Theresa Merwin, Director of the Marinucci Family CPACS at Mohawk College. "Students can complete their studies in a shorter timeframe, relying on past educational and employment experience. As a result, learners gain skills sooner, benefitting themselves and their employer."
To accommodate working professionals, the program was designed as a hybrid model, incorporating asynchronous and synchronous lectures online along with weekly in-person lab sessions at Mohawk's Institute for Applied Health Sciences at McMaster campus. This format allowed the learners to continue working for Thrive while completing their studies.
For Sydney Woodhouse, one of the enrolled students, the online delivery was easy to get used to as she had previously attended university through COVID, but the fast-paced delivery was an adjustment. "[The program] took into consideration that we were already [working] in the field," she says. "Some things came fairly quickly and then there was other aspects that I [hadn't] seen yet in my job. So, it did make it a little more difficult."
The students first seven weeks focused on the foundations of learning including communications, anatomy, and Indigenous ways of knowing, along with PSW theory and applications, which included hands-on training and simulation. The last half of the program included courses on palliative care, mental health and the Canadian landscapes for personal support work.
The unique delivery of the program was extremely beneficial to Sydney. Although the courses required a lot of dedicated time over the three-month period, the results were worth it. Learning the theory and then, within days, applying the knowledge in lab-based real-world scenarios made the information stick. "I really liked that our professors would explain how everything works and why we do it and then we would go in person and actually see how all of it happens," Sydney says.
She saw immediately how her learning was beneficial to her job at Thrive Group. "The moment I learned something new a client would ask a question or need [support] with something specific," she says. "It was amazing [to] think I may never use this tool [while in class] and then for it to be able to be implemented in my day-to-day work [almost immediately]. It was very exciting."
A great example of this was when Sydney noticed one of her clients was acting strangely and out of character. Although the client has Parkinson's disease, Sydney's training told her the symptoms could be related to a more immediate issue. "I was puzzling everything together based on what I learned in class and believed he had a UTI (urinary tract infection)," she said. "He was delirious, having pain and [experienced] trouble standing up, more than usual." Sydney shared her observations and concerns with her client's caregiver, his daughter, who took him for bloodwork and to get checked by a doctor. Turns out, Sydney was correct. "It was just amazing that I was able to catch on to it so quickly to get it treated properly."
Thrive Group shares Mohawk College's ambition to support the health and well-being of our communities. A common goal of this partnership is to sustain a skilled workforce for tomorrow's healthcare sector.
In April, the 10 employees celebrated the completion of their Personal Support Worker program with a special breakfast ceremony hosted by Thrive Group.
The success of this program highlights the potential for similar initiatives to fill critical workforce gaps. By leveraging strong partnerships, securing funding, and embracing innovative delivery models, organizations like Thrive Group partnering with Mohawk College will support sustainable workforce development now and in the future. As the healthcare industry continues to evolve, programs like this will be essential in preparing the next generation of skilled professionals.
Thrive is working with Mohawk to enroll another cohort of employees into the PSW program in 2025. Thrive Group Executive Director, Lucy Sheehan says, "We look forward to more opportunities to partner with Mohawk College that will undoubtedly continue to have an impact on our healthcare system and our community as a whole."
