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The Ontario Association of Child and Youth Counsellors (OACYC, ou en français, AOCEJ, l'Association Ontarienne des conseillers à l'enfance et à la jeunesse) is the professional association representing the 1000+ Child and Youth Counsellors (CYCs) in the province of Ontario, Canada.  It also provides a voice for the other 8,000 child and youth workers in the province.   
Originally, CYCs were known as Child Care Workers (CCWs) and until 1989 the OACYC was called the Child Care Workers' Association of Ontario (CCWAO).  For more on the choice of the term "counsellor," see Why We're Called CYCs.  Other common terms for those working in the field are:

  • Child and Youth Worker (CYW)    ●    Child & Youth Care Worker/Practitioner         
  • - Youth Worker

The major difference between Child and Youth Counsellors and other child and youth workers is one of professional and public accountability. 

Only professional CYCs:

  1. have proven their initial educational/training qualifications to an external body
  2. are required to keep current in the field; membership is conditional on the completion of annual professional development activities
  3. provide their signature of agreement to abide by the OACYC Code of Ethics
  4. are answerable to this Code; the OACYC has a complaints and
    discipline process available to members and the public alike.
  5. have access to the professional resources of the OACYC, including a network of over 1000 professional CYCs (in Ontario and beyond ).
To be sure you're getting the services of a professional Child and Youth Counsellor,

in Ontario, just look for the mark of accountability after their name:

CYC (Cert.)  or  CYC

Or, to be 100% sure, contact the OACYC Provincial Office
For more on professional designations like "CYC (Cert.)" and other terms used in the CYC field , click HERE.

OACYC Members and Supporters receive an 8- to 12-page newsletter every 2 months (considered by many to be one of the best newsletters in the field) and discounts on provincial and regional conferences as well as others sponsored by CYC associations.

Professional Liability Insurance, exclusively for CYCs, is available at rates well below the cost of purchasing it privately,
for any CYC across Canada who meets the requirements for Full Membership in the OACYC. 

To find out more about membership, the profession, employment, and the activities of the OACYC, just click on the topics to the left, or

Phone: 1-888-367-7193 (toll-free in Ontario) or 613-376-1554; fax: 613-376-3640
E-mail: office@oacyc.org
Postal: RR3, Harrowsmith, ON  K0H 1V0

For more about the Canadian national association for CYCs, and CYC associations in other provinces, visit the Council of Canadian Child and Youth Care Associations (CCCYCA) site at:
www.cyccanada.ca

Our next conference is ….
Beyond Superior
Building Strength and Resiliency in Children and Youth

Thunder Bay, Ontario -- April 3 - 5, 2008

Call for Presentations
DEADLINE: Friday, November 30, 2--7

For a copy of the "Call for Presentations"  in Word 97, 8 1/2" x 14"  CLICK HERE
Full Program will be posted on this site in January 2008

Celebrate
Child and Youth Counsellor Week

For 15 years, CYC Week in Ontario has been tied to our conferences, usually in early June or late May.  In the past few years, the international CYC community has celebrated the profession in the first week of May.  To coincide with this practice, and allow agencies, hospitals, school boards and other employers of CYCs/CYWs, to plan ahead for this important celebration, CYC Week in Ontario has now been officially declared for a set time each year …the First Full Week in May.  So join us and make next

MAY 5--11, 2008
your date for celebrating the Child and Youth Counsellors and all child and youth workers in the Province of Ontario.
For posters and other resources and ideas to help with your celebration, Contact the OACYC Provincial Office or to see how CYCs from Thunder Bay to Ottawa marked the occasion in the past, see REPORT.