This month has been incredibly exciting for everyone at Willis College! Our first class of provincially funded Personal Support Worker students (recipients of the PSW 300 scholarship) graduated and we couldn’t be more excited!

You may remember that Willis College first announced that it would be a school designated by the Government of Ontario to provide Personal Support Worker (PSW) scholarships to students back in January. These scholarships, funded by the Government of Ontario, were designed to help fill the desperate need for Personal Support Workers in Ontario through Willis College’s highly regarded program. Students were fully-funded for tuition and books for the 30 week program, and what a great success it was!

This month the first class under the PSW 300 program saw 100% pass rate on the provincial certification exam. 85% of students were hired into the workforce within two weeks of graduation, with many receiving job offers before they even completed the training program. Graduate Rebecca Kritsch summed her experience up well: “The accelerated program, although intense at points, was perfect for me and I was able to get in there, get it done and get hired. And I was hired the day before I took my certification exam.”

A small celebration of Willis College staff and students took place earlier in the month and we were honoured to have John Yakabuski, Member of Parliament for the riding of Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke join us. He was equally as excited by the results of the Willis College PSW 300 program: “We are grateful that a nimble institution like Willis College could provide this PSW training in such a timely manner. As a result, we will have qualified personnel providing valuable services to our seniors in a timeframe that was not previously possible. Our seniors deserve nothing but the best and Willis College is helping to provide it.”

We know that it takes a special person to be a personal support worker and we are so incredibly proud of our graduates and our contribution to filling this vital need. Our program has provided not only the theory that is required to be successful but also the hands-on practical experience that will surely make our students shine in this challenging role. 

The innovative “4-and-1” model was designed by Willis College to ensure students understood the magnitude of the personal support worker role in long-term care facilities, and to help the people who needed it most during the pandemic.

“The fact that you did four days of schooling and then, you got to gain your experience a lot sooner because we could have done our full theory without knowing what to expect going into our placement. On top of that, too, it also gives us an opportunity to see if we’re going to be able to handle what workforce we’re going into, because some people could potentially not be able to handle working with elderly people or what comes with that. So I felt it was a great opportunity to experience and to know what we were getting ourselves into at the end of the course.”
 – PSW 300 scholarship recipient and graduate Alyssa Larabie

Congratulations to all of our graduates. We cannot wait to watch you succeed, thrive, and truly make a difference! 

Interested in joining this exciting field?

There has ever been a better time to start your journey with Willis College, especially in the Personal Support Worker Certification program (again we mention that Rebecca was hired before she even graduated!). Take advantage of this amazing opportunity by contacting us today.